


What Happens In Vegas (Definitely Doesn't Stay There)

by JustAnOffalyGirl



Category: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Abduction, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Typical Violence, Divorce, Drinking, F/M, Hurt Kelly Severide, Male/Female Friendship, Marriage, Ooops! We Got Married, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Post Vegas Trip, Smut, canon typical injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:08:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29634411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnOffalyGirl/pseuds/JustAnOffalyGirl
Summary: Sylvie decides to accept Severide’s invitation to Vegas, looking forward to a few days of sun and relaxing. Instead they arrive back home married. How can they keep a friendship going, and how does her life in 51 progress from here?
Relationships: Matthew Casey & Kelly Severide, Matthew Casey/Gabriela Dawson, Sylvie Brett & Gabriela Dawson, Sylvie Brett & Kelly Severide, Sylvie Brett/Antonio Dawson
Comments: 35
Kudos: 45





	1. Platinum Rings

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm binging Chicago Fire and I'm in love with it. There's gonna be some pretty serious canon divergence here, but I have most of this planned out for what I want to happen. I don't tend to write super long stories, but we'll see how it goes.

Sylvie cracked her eyes open, her phone alarm going off beside her. Her head was killing her, and the light really didn’t help matters either. It was so much brighter in Vegas than Chicago. She managed to pick up her phone and turn off the alarm. It was nine am, their flight back to Chicago was at four that afternoon, and she had had plans to lie around the pool in a bikini and get a bit of sun before she went back to the snow. This whole 24 on 48 off idea was nice for these chances to get out of the cold.

Pulling the covers off her, she stood and stretched, looking for her bag. Sylvie pulled on her underwear and jeans, then rubbed her eyes with her palms, before staring at her left hand with terror. There were two rings there. Two really beautiful rings on her left ring finger, one of them with a diamond. They were platinum, and the diamond was the perfect size for work to not push through her gloves. 

“What the actual hell?” She murmured, staring at the rings. She looked behind her, and realised that Kelly was in the bed she’d just vacated. She could see his ring finger, and he had a matching wedding ring on his hand. They were going to be in so much trouble when they got back to work. So much.

“Severide. Severide. Get up.” Sylvie shook his arm once she was dressed. The firefighter in him woke quickly, even with the amount of alcohol they’d ingested the night before.

“Brett, what’s up? Did we oversleep, do we need to check out?” He sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“What do you remember about last night?” She asked, sitting on the bed beside him. She hid her rings in her pocket, trying to get him to remember exactly what was going on.

“Eh, I’m not sure. We were at the poker table and you cleaned up at it. I was impressed! Then we got dinner, and we got drinks. I remember a lot of drinks. And then…” His voice trailed off as he squinted, his forehead creasing adorably as he tried to remember. Sylvie could see the exact moment when he remembered they’d gotten married.

“We got married. Fuck. Not that it’d be bad to marry you, Brett, but that was not my intention for it. Crap. I remember drinking, and kissing, and then we decided to get married because we get on. Right?” Kelly looked at the ring on his hand, and Sylvie showed him her matching ones.

“Yeah, we got married. What the hell, Sev? Not that it’d be bad to be married to you, but you’re still grieving Shay, and I’m new in the House and I don’t want people to think that I’m sleeping with a Lieutenant to increase my career prospects. I got warned off dating in house that it’s a bad idea already I just don’t want to give anyone a chance to say I did the wrong thing.” She finished speaking for a moment, swallowed, but Severide spoke before she could.

“Look, we’re married. It’s not a bad thing really, you’re a good person, I’m normally alright when I’m not grieving badly and on a self destruction bender. We can get divorced while we’re back in Chicago, but in the mean time we can just go with it. It’ll be ok, Sylvie.” He smiled and made her look at him, where she smiled back while blinking back tears. “Plus, we’re married now, you can call me Kelly. Probably should have gone through the official introduction, eh? No middle name, just Kelly.”

“Sylvie Jean Brett, from Fowlerton Indiana. It’s almost ten am, the hotel breakfast is till ten thirty, and I’m in the mood for pancakes before I go sit in the sun for a few hours. Want some breakfast and coffee?”

They went down for breakfast, and had a companionable chat while they ate. Sylvie filled him in on some of the details about her childhood, growing up in the countryside. For every story about being a farm kid, Kelly had a story about being a Chicago kid growing up with Matt Casey and Andy Darden.

It didn’t take long to pack, and before long she’d gotten her wish, sitting on a sun lounger with a strawberry daquiri in her hand. The time passed too quickly before she had to get ready for the flight, but by three thirty she and Kelly were sitting at their gate, waiting for the flight to Chicago to board. He’d been really sweet to her since they realised they were married, holding her duffel and making sure she was ok while they waited. He even picked her up a hazelnut latte from the airport Starbucks while he got himself a coffee.

They made it back to Chicago just after nine, and Kelly offered to drop her home but she refused. She’d seen Gabby’s look when Dawson had seen where she lived, and she figured any of the guys she worked with would freak out with the neighbourhood.

“I’ll see you in work in the morning?” She asked, smiling at him as she pulled up her Uber app to get a ride home.

“Yeah. Come in a few minutes early? Even with the divorce plans, we still need to tell Boden what’s going on. There’s forms that need to be filled out, all that stuff. He’ll help us do it and we’ll be all set then.”

“Is it going to affect my job? Am I gonna have to leave 51?” Sylvie felt her stomach lurch at the idea. She didn’t want to have to leave the house, she’d finally gotten her feet under her and she and Mills were a good team.

“Nah, not at all. If you were on Squad you’d need to move shift or I’d need to, but we aren’t in a command structure so it’ll be fine. Be there for seven forty five?” She nodded, and went to move when Kelly grabbed her arm.

“I’m scared by this, and I still wonder what drunk us were thinking, but I’m glad it’s you and I doing this, Brett. You deserve that seat in the ambo, and you deserve the place in this house. Remember that tomorrow.” Kelly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into an awkward hug, before letting go.

Sylvie didn’t really sleep that night, tossing and turning while looking at her rings. They were beautiful, and they weren’t cheap. She knew it wasn’t going to be a big thing for her and Kelly, and they’d be divorced in a few weeks. It’d basically be like they hadn’t ever been married, and hopefully the rest of the house wouldn’t need to find out. 

Her alarm went off at six, and she decided to just get out of bed and deal with being over tired and over caffeinated for the day. She showered, dressed and got ready, drinking half a pot of coffee before starting her walk to work. She normally left as late as possible, making sure it was bright before she left, but this morning she didn’t have much of a choice. She held her keys between her fingers for the first part of the walk, but it was quiet.

Kelly was waiting for her outside the house, leaning against what she assumed was his car. He smiled seeing her, then looked behind her to see where her car was.

“I don’t have a car at the moment, so I’m getting the El in every day. When Harrison left, he took his car back with him.” She said, feeling embarrassed mentioning her ex-fiancé to her husband. She didn’t want to admit exactly where she lived to him, so the white lie was acceptable she figured.

“Asshole. Let me know and I’ll give you a ride in in the morning, it’s safer than getting the train. You ready to talk to Boden?” He asked as they turned to walk into the house. Almost unconsciously their hands met as they walked, although they quickly let go when they arrived in and realised that Herrmann was already sitting in the common room.

“Look, it’s the Vegas folks! Have a good trip?” He asked, smiling over at them.

“Hell yes we did! Brett made a killing at the poker table, I was impressed. Is Boden around? I wanna check something with him.”

“Yeah, he’s in his office. Brett, Mills got called in early, one of the paramedics on first shift had to go home at 3am, so he said he’d take the extra few hours overtime. They’re on a call now, should be back soon.” Herrmann smiled at her, and she smiled back. She followed Kelly to Boden’s office, and he knocked, asking if they could come in.

“What can I do for both of you?” Boden asked, leaning back in his chair to stare at the two of them.

“Well Chief, Brett and I need relationship forms. While we were in Vegas, we got married. We’re starting divorce proceedings soon, but we don’t want the department to find out before the divorce is finalised. Can we fill them out now and get them filed asap?” Kelly blurted everything out, and Brett just nodded in the appropriate places. Her left hand was still in her pants pocket, and she thumbed off her rings before pulling it out to take the forms from Boden.

“If you need help with anything, let me know. Sounds like it’ll be a simple divorce, you probably won’t even need an attorney. Get these back to me by the end of shift and I can have it filed quickly.” They both took the forms and walked out to the lockers, determined to just get the workday done.

It passed quickly, and she and Pete were called out multiple times. The rest of the house asked how the trip went, but Kelly stuck to the story of her winning at poker which kept everyone happy. By the time they finished, all Sylvie wanted was a hot shower and her bed, followed by the Zumba class she’d signed up for and a list of apartment viewings she had.

When she’d left the completed form on Boden’s desk she walked onto the apparatus floor, fondly rubbing 61 goodbye before walking home.

She wasn’t paying attention until she realised that Kelly was calling her name, and she’d nearly walked past him. 

“Sorry, post shift tiredness. What’s up, Kelly?” She asked, shifting her duffel strap to her other shoulder.

“I told you I’d drive you home, hop in.” He stood aside and opened the passenger side door for her, but she sidestepped and kept walking.

“I’m going home, Kelly. I like keeping work and home separate, so I’m just gonna go to the El and head home. I don’t want to show people where I live yet.”

“Sylvie, I’m your husband for at least the next couple of weeks. Sue me if I wanna make sure my wife is home safe after having a dozen callouts in a shift. I don’t even need to go in, or even see your block, just let me get you home safe.” The idea of getting home quickly won out, and she gave Severide the directions.

“I thought you said you got the train in?” He asked, realising she was in walking distance of the house.

“I don’t exactly like people knowing where I live, I got enough judgment off Dawson when she realised where I live, I didn’t want anyone else to judge me on it. It’s not like I had a lot of choice on where to live.” Her tiredness beat her as she snapped at Severide.

“Hey, I’m not gonna argue! It’s not the safest part of town, but do you have a good lock on the door?”

“I’ve got two, plus it’s gorgeous. My main neighbour is Hector, who’s homeless and lives in the Alley beside the house. He appreciates me being a paramedic and keeps an eye out for me.”

“You don’t hear me complaining. Want me to walk you in?” He asked as they arrived up to the house, eyeing the door.

“I’m fine, thanks Kelly. I’m gonna just crash for a couple of hours, I need a break from everything I think. I’ll do some research about the divorce and text you what we need to do?” She waved goodbye as she walked in the front yard and up the steps, before entering her apartment and locking the door behind her.

Kelly waited till she’d gone inside before driving away to Dawson and Casey’s apartment. Letting himself in, he saw Casey sitting on the sofa, staring at the wall.

“I know it’s not work, but I need to talk. Rooftop?” Kelly grabbed two cigars from his case and pointed up, and the two of them grabbed jackets and went upstairs. Kelly leaned against the door, lit his cigar and inhaled slowly, blowing out a slow stream of smoke.

“I fucked up in Vegas,” Kelly blurted out without thinking, staring at the surrounding buildings.

“What do you mean, dude? From what Brett said you guys had a good time and she won money, sounds like a win. Maybe she can move out of the crappy apartment she’s in with the winnings.” Casey spoke quietly, but waited for his best friend to speak again. It took a few minutes before he did.

“She won, and then she spent the money on us. We got married, Case. And I’m pretty sure she bought her engagement ring and both our wedding rings. I’m still not even sure why we did it, but I have a wedding license with both our signatures on it, and we shared a bed. I don’t even know if we slept together. But we’re married and we’re trying to work out how to get divorced, but I don’t even know if I want to divorce her? I don’t know enough about her except she’s just out of a bad relationship.” Kelly never blurted his words out like this, but Casey could tell he was freaking out.

“Do the divorce. Do the divorce and then see if you want to date each other, but there’s no point in trying to build a relationship around being married. It’s not worth it. We both saw our parents be miserable and married, you don’t deserve that. Neither does Brett.”

The two men stood there, smoking silently for a few moments until Kelly came out with the one thing going through his head.

“I wish you and Dawson were there. At least that way you’d have been the ones to get married and not us. And I know that causes all issues for her being the candidate, but I just wish I didn’t have to deal with this with Brett, she’s too nice for it.” Kelly stubbed out the quarter smoked cigar on the sole of his boot, making sure it was completely extinguished.

“Brett’s not a kid, she’s got a good head on her shoulders. Even if nothing happens between the two of you, I think this will be good for you as friends. Gabby liked riding with her, said she came up with some good methods for saving patients.” Casey followed suit with stubbing out his own cigar, and stretched.

“I got basically no sleep last night cause of reports, so I’m going to bed for a few hours. If Gabby comes home while you’re there, let her know where I am?” Kelly nodded, following his best friend down the stairs and into the apartment.


	2. Ambulance 61

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 51 gets confused by their friendship, Sylvie and Mills lose a patient, Sylvie and Kelly decide how they want their relationship to be post-annulment, and Sylvie becomes firm friends with Casey and Dawson. Set around 03x09.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided I'm going to try update this on Sundays and Thursdays. The next chapter should be up on February 28th. I'm not a Gabby fan for many, many reasons, but I'm trying to write her fairly and accurately. She doesn't deserve the butchering she gets sometimes.

The next few shifts passed quickly for Sylvie. Kelly had taken the task of getting her to and from work with great pleasure, and made sure she had a ride no matter what was happening. She was getting her bearings with Peter, and things were working out well between them. She even had a viewing for a new room with a couple of paramedics who worked out of other houses, getting her to a nicer part of Chicago. She was losing her walk to work, but the safety would be worth it.

It was a pretty normal day of nearly back to back calls, but she and Mills had stopped for sandwiches after their third call of the day. They’d already missed breakfast, and if things kept going the way they were they would miss lunch and dinner too.

“So…how are you settling into 51? Feeling like home yet?” Mills asked between bites of his sandwich. Sylvie smiled before swallowing to answer.

“Yeah, I am. Everyone’s really nice and it’s so busy, it’s such a change from constant car crashes and pretty much nothing else.” She bit off another piece of her turkey club, waiting for the inevitable question from Mills.

“What’s up with you and Severide? I saw him bringing you into work some mornings, are you seeing each other after the trip?”

Sylvie laughed at this one. She was a horrible liar, but she could keep it to mostly the truth. “Nah, we’re not dating. We became good friends and I don’t live in a great part of town, he decided to take pity on me and bring me into work instead of walking in every morning. He’s nearly like my big brother, it’s sweet.” It was close enough to the truth, Kelly had become a good friend to her since they’d made The Mistake.

They’d met with an attorney the day before, and worked out they could get it annulled in Vegas, so it was essentially like it had never happened. They didn’t even need to go back, the forms had been filled out and were in the process of being filed with the courts already. It was an almost too easy process.

“That’s good. He’s a good guy, he was just really lost after Shay died. He’s coming back to himself now, which is nice.”

 _“Ambulance 61, injured male, Cordova High School, 3317 South Garfield”_ came over the radio, and Brett responded immediately.

“Ambulance 61, copy. On route to scene now, eta three minutes.”

Mills floored it, and Sylvie wrapped their lunches and shoved them in the glove box. Injuries waited for nobody, not even two paramedics who just wanted food. They pulled up and a teacher was waving them over immediately, so they grabbed the bags and ran.

“Make him breathe, please!”

“Please make him breathe.”

Sylvie saw the teenager cough up water and take a deep breath, and pulled aside the young woman doing CPR so she could take a look. Mills made sure everyone was back, and then started doing his vitals too.

“You saved him, good job. What’s your name?”

“Jason. Please don’t call my dad, he’ll freak out. I don’t want him to worry is all.” He looked nearly more concerned about his dad finding out than the near death experience, and Sylvie felt so sorry for him.

“We already called him, Jason. He’ll meet you at the hospital.” The teacher standing to the side said.

They loaded the boy up on the gurney and got him into the ambulance. Mills handed Brett the keys, telling her to drive them. The journey was fine for the first minute, until Mills came through on the radio.

“Brett, I’m not getting a blood pressure, he’s coding. Get us there now.”

“We’re five away, Mills.”

“Get us there now.”

Sylvie pushed on the gas, going as quickly as she can before grabbing the radio. “Chicago Med this is Ambulance 61, our patient just coded and went into cardiac arrest, suspected secondary drowning. Our ETA is one minute out, have trauma on standby immediately. We’re coming in hot.”

_“Copy that, Ambulance 61. We’ll prep for your arrival now.”_

True to her word, fifty seven seconds later she pulled up to the ER entrance, breaking immediately and jumping out to get the bus doors open and available for the waiting medics.

“Jason, age 16. Almost drowned in a pool at school, CPR performed on site and he regained full function. Crashed five minutes out from here, Mills has been working on him.” Brett pulled the door open and grabbed the gurney, Mills on top of the teenager while performing chest compressions.

“Pulmonary edema, he’s in PEA, been about six minutes. He was shocked twice at 200, gave him one epi two minutes ago.” Mills said, moving aside to let the doctors do their job. He and Sylvie sat on chairs outside the bay, watching the team fight to save the teenager’s life. It felt like no time and an age when Sylvie heard the flatline continue, and watched the team move away from the bed.

“Time of Death, 11.40. Thanks folks, you did good work here,” the ER doctor spoke to her team before coming out to greet the paramedics waiting there.

“You did a really good job out there, he shouldn’t have recovered enough to speak from the initial drowning. Tough call. Go back to your house and rest up, and I’ll ignore any saline bags that happen to go missing as you go through the hospital.”

Brett watched as the doctor went and spoke to the boys family, but Mills pulled her quickly away. They grabbed some supplies and linens to restock the ambo before heading outside.

“Did you recognise the family that the doc was talking to?” Mills asked her as they got into the cab. He’d taken shotgun, leaving her driving privileges on the cold day.

“No, should I have?”

“I forget you’re new here. It looks like he was Papa Lullo’s son. The papers call him the John Gotti of Chicago. And his kid died on us.” Mills looked stressed even thinking about it, and Sylvie navigated back to the firehouse so they could rest up for a little while.

She made it into the common room to sit and unwind for ten minutes, but she only made it two before she could sense someone’s presence beside her. Opening her eyes, she saw a plate and mug in front of her, and Kelly sitting in the seat next to her.

“Got a plate put away for you and Mills, figured you could use it. How’d the morning go?” He asked, pushing the utensils closer to her. The smell of the pasta was amazing, and she tucked in with gusto.

“Ok I guess? Little old lady who lost consciousness when she tripped over her dog, she just needed stitches. Diabetes wellness check that turned into making a sandwich. We lost our last patient, though. Sixteen and secondary drowning.” She blinked back tears. It was always the kid cases that hit her the hardest, no matter what was going on with them.

“Crap, I’m sorry Sylv.” He went to squeeze her hand, but remembered where he was and squeezed her shoulder instead. “I’m gonna tell Mills there’s food here for him, get something before you both get called out again.” He left, leaving Sylvie there to eat in peace for a few minutes until 81 returned from a call.

“‘Sup?” Gabby slid into the seat next to her, looking at the food in front of her. “Now I see why Kelly wanted food put aside, must have been for you and Mills. How was your day?” She asked, looking at Sylvie’s blotchy skin and immediately knowing something was seriously wrong.

“Absolute hell. Sixteen year old and we couldn’t save him. So I’m gonna eat, then restock the ambo, then maybe even curl up with Pouch and read the crappy romance novel I’ve been saving for a Very Bad Day.”

“I’m sorry, those calls are the worst. I’m busy after shift early tomorrow, but if you want to go to Molly’s tomorrow night we can? Few drinks, girls night, just the two of us?” Gabby sounded convincing, so Sylvie nodded.

“God that sounds amazing, yes. Even just a drink or two so I can relax and unwind would be amazing.”

_“Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61, single car collision on West Madison Street Bridge. One victim”_

“Never say the break word! Let’s go.” Sylvie shoved the last bite of pasta into her mouth, ran to put her plate in the dishwasher and went to the ambo. Mills was moments behind her, and they pulled out just behind squad, their group travelling in unison through the busy mid afternoon Chicago streets.

The SUV was tottering slightly over the edge of the bridge, the front wheels hanging over nothing. There was a woman in the driver’s seat who was unconscious with a nasty head wound, and Brett moved around so she could see exactly what was going on. Casey and Severide were shouting orders to their teams, and she could see the ropes to hold the car in place.

It felt like an age, but in reality was only about ten minutes when she was able to get to the car and help extract the victim. She had a pulse and resps, and it didn’t take long for her and Mills to get her into the back of the ambo and race off towards Med again.

The prognosis this time was better, it looked like she’d had a stroke while driving but they’d caught it in time. The paramedics waved at the staff before leaving, determined to make it back to the house for some relaxation time between calls.

The rest of the shift wasn’t easy, but they avoided anything life or death. Typical drunks having fights, people falling in high heels and breaking ankles, but everyone was safely delivered to where they needed to be. By the time shift ended, all Sylvie wanted to do was curl up in her bunk for a few hours. Instead she got in Severide’s car and got her ride home.

“You know Mills asked me what were we,” she said, staring out the window almost sightlessly for the seven minute drive. Kelly laughed before responding.

“What did you tell him? I mean I know you wanted to keep what happened a secret.”

“And I still do. I really like you, Kelly, but I like you as a brother. I want you to be the guy who gives the shovel talk to guys who date me, and I want to keep being your friend.” Sylvie’s voice trailed off as she spoke. “Is that ok? Or did you want more?”

“No, no, that’s fine!” The relief in Kelly’s voice was palpable. “Once we came home I had second thoughts about it, maybe we should stick together and try work it out. But a very good friend of mine told me that I had parents who were married and miserable, and it was no way to live life. I’m delighted to be your friend, Sylvie Jean Brett.”

“Well, Kelly Severide, I’m delighted to be your friend too.” They pulled up outside Sylvie’s apartment, and the first thing Kelly noticed was the door was ajar.

“Sylvie, nope. Don’t move.” He put his arm against her chest to stop her getting out of the car, and her eyes widened as she spotted the door.

“No, not again. Not again,” she mumbled, a tear leaking out of her eyes.

Kelly pulled out his cell and brought up a number he didn’t think he was going to call again, and hit the send button.

“Kelly, I’m at a crime scene, I have to do my job.” Erin spoke without letting him get a word in edge ways.

“I need help, Erin. The new paramedic on 61 just had her house broken into. We haven’t gone in yet, but we need someone here to process and see what’s happened. She says it’s the second time this has happened since she moved in in the summer. We’re on 17th, near Ashland.”

“Ok. I’ll send Burgess and Roman over. But with that neighbourhood you know things aren’t gonna be solved.”

“We both know, thanks Erin.” He hung up the phone and looked back at Sylvie.

“I’m moving out in a week, this is so typical. So, so typical. I just wanted to get through this week and get some sleep before I go for drinks with Gabby tonight, instead it’ll be incident reports and stuff. Ugh.” Sylvie would have hit the car roof if she wasn’t in it with the owner.

“Relax. Burgess and Roman are on their way, and they’ll see what they can do. Did you have anything valuable in there?”

“Just sentimental. After the first robbery I kept all my important stuff in my locker at work, in case this happened again. I wonder how bad this cleanup job will be.”

As she spoke, the cruiser pulled up and two uniformed cops got out. Sylvie unbuckled her belt to meet them, and Kelly followed suit.

“I’m Sylvie Brett, this is Kelly Severide, my coworker. He was giving me a ride home when we saw what was going on.”

“Kim Burgess, Sean Roman. We’ll take the report, but it’s not likely anything will come of it Sylvie. This was probably someone who learned your schedule and came by shortly after you left for work yesterday. Do you have somewhere you can stay tonight?”

“Yeah, she’s staying with me tonight. Can she grab a bag while you’re in there?”

“Of course, Severide. Sorry we’re seeing you like this.”

It didn’t take long for the cops to finish their walkthrough, or for Sylvie to pack a bag with some clothes to sleep on Casey and Dawson’s couch. Kelly had already sent them a text to tell them what was happening, but before they even got into Kelly’s car, Matt’s truck had pulled up behind him.

“Thought you had a job today?” Kelly asked, blinking twice to make sure it actually was Matt there.

“I figured I could take ten minutes to do this. Hey Brett, I brought some changes of locks for you. I know you don’t wanna stay here, and you’re more than welcome on the couch till your new lease starts, but I thought we could save anything that wasn’t taken from being stolen. Give me twenty minutes and I’ll have them installed.” He grabbed his toolbox and the two new locks and got to work, and twenty minutes later they were installed and secure.

“Here’s the keys, and you can give the spares to the landlord. I’m free most days next week, so let me know when you want to move and we’ll put everything in the truck.” She smiled at Casey, nodding and feeling so grateful about the folks she’d lucked into meeting through work.

She got into Kelly’s car and he drove them to the apartment, a comfortable silence between the two of them. They pulled up, and he put the car in park before speaking.

“Look, just before we go in. Matt knows about everything that happened in Vegas, I couldn’t keep it from him. I don’t know if he told Gabby, but he told me he wouldn’t say anything to you about it. I’m gonna assume he didn’t if you had no idea I told him, but I wanted you to be aware.”

“I had absolutely no idea. He kept it quiet, he didn’t even say anything to me about it. Thanks for the insight, Kelly.”

They arrived into the apartment and Sylvie flopped onto the couch, relaxing at last. She could feel the tension leave her shoulders as she sat and realised that apart from spending time that night with Gabby, she had no reason to do anything.

It was a relaxing day, Kelly was nearly as attentive as the day they found out they were married, bringing her breakfast and lunch as they watched a replay of the previous evening’s Bears game. It wasn’t till three when Gabby came out of her bedroom, doing a double take at the duo curled up on the couch watching football together as they ate.

“Ok, I’m probably going to regret asking, but why are you both here? I mean you live here, Severide, but any reason you’re here Brett?” She stretched as she spoke, confusion clear on her face.

“I was dropping Brett home and her apartment got broken into. I wanted to make sure she was safe, so texted you and Case, he said to bring her here and keep her on the couch till her new lease starts.”

Gabby smiled and nodded. “Makes getting ready for tonight easier. Matt’s working till probably seven, it’s his last job of the year. Molly’s for eight?”

“Sounds good. Is there somewhere I can grab a shower? I wasn’t able to shower after the last call, and I want to feel a little more human.” She grabbed her extra bag that she’d packed some clothes and toiletries into, standing up and losing Kelly’s body heat from beside her.

“Yeah, use my bathroom. There’s some towels in here too.” Kelly led her into his room, pointed out what to use and how the shower worked, before leaving her to get ready.

“Severide, why the hell is our new paramedic curled up with you on the couch? What’s going on?” She asked, staring at him leaving his room.

“I told you, she got robbed. We got close when we were in Vegas, and I’ve been giving her a ride to and from work. She can’t stay there but she’s moving in with some of the paramedics from 24 next week, so she’ll be here for a few nights.” Kelly sat back down and unpaused the game as Gabby sat beside him, grabbing popcorn from the bowl on the coffee table.

“How did you get so close anyway? I thought she was just there to have some fun and gamble, I didn’t think you’d be BFFs after the trip.”

“We got married, Dawson. We got really, really drunk and we got married, and now we’re getting an annulment, and nobody except the two of us, Boden, Casey and now you know. So we’re staying close friends, because who else knows what it’s like? But don’t tell anyone, cause we’re keeping this as private as we can so she isn’t humiliated.”

“What the fuck? I’m just surprised that you kept it quiet for so long. And she didn’t tell me. I’m gonna go get dressed, we’re going drinking tonight.” Gabby left the room to get ready, leaving Kelly alone with his thoughts.

Matt arrived home shortly after seven, as the two women were chatting and laughing from Matt and Dawson’s room. They emerged, ready for a night on the town. Sylvie ordered an uber on her phone, and they waved at the two men on the couch as they left.

Molly’s was busy for a Thursday, mostly with 51 second shift. Herrmann was behind the bar, and immediately produced a vodka tonic for Sylvie and a longneck for Gabby. They managed one of the high tables at the wall, and sat on their own. They waved at their coworkers, but waving was enough for them.

“Kelly told me what happened,” Gabby blurted out after a long swallow of beer. Sylvie stared at her, eyes wide.

“You must think I’m awful,” she replied, stirring her drink with the small straw.

“I don’t think that. I think you must have been super drunk to even consider doing that, but I don’t think you’re awful. He said it’s gonna be like it never happened?”

“Yeah. Everything’s filed, it just has to be approved. In three weeks time it’ll be be approved and we’ll be good to go. The only good thing is we’re pretty good friends now. If he hadn’t brought me home, I don’t know what I would have done. He even got Casey to put new locks on the door so it’s secure.” Sylvie threw back what was left of her drink, she felt raw even talking about it.

“What’s wrong, Brett? You ok?” Herrmann arrived over with fresh drinks for them, taking the empty glass and bottle from them.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just freaking out, my apartment was robbed yesterday. Dawson’s letting me stay on the couch till my new lease starts next week.” She raised her glass to Dawson, and they clinked.

“Crap, I’m sorry. Need help moving? I’ll probably have at least two children with me, but I can help with the boxes.” He was serious, and it made Sylvie smile slightly.

“We’re good, thanks Herrmann. Matt, Kelly and I are gonna help her move everything. If we need anyone else to help, we’ll send out texts.” Dawson shut down her training officer calmly, giving him a smile. He got the message and left them alone, and they spent the next few hours talking and learning more about each other. By eleven, they decided to go to a different bar to spend some time away from their coworkers.

By the end of the night they felt like they’d actually gotten to know each other, and they held onto each others arms as they drunkenly picked up a deep dish pie and made their way back to the apartment.

It was quiet when they arrived, and they sat on the couch with forks to eat their pizza, the cheese still warm and gooey. By the time they were full, Gabby put the leftovers in the fridge and waved goodnight to Sylvie before going to her own bed.


	3. Couch Surfing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sylvie takes a Zumba class, packs up her apartment, and has the aftermath of Jason Lullo's death weigh on her. Bets are placed by the Firehouse, and Gabby makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where the canon divergence really takes off. It's going to be the same characters we know and love, a lot of the same scenarios, but timelines will be jumbled and some things will be completely tossed aside (Pridgen and Welch just won't exist here and I'm ok with this).

Sylvie’s head hurt as she opened her eyes. Dawson and Casey’s couch was comfortable, and she was well wrapped up in the thick blanket. She could smell bacon cooking and coffee brewing, so she stretched and announced herself awake to whoever was here.

“Morning, Brett. Gabby’s still in bed and I don’t think she’s getting up any time soon. How’re you doing?” Matt was cooking for the four, with pancake batter in a bowl beside him.

“If you have some Advil I won’t say no, but I’m better than I thought I’d be. Bless our decision to get pizza on the way home, I really needed that.”

Matt pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and handed it to her with the bottle of Advil. Sylvie took two and drank deeply, imagining she could feel the hydration going through her body. Matt continued cooking and they sat in silence until Sylvie’s nerves couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Thanks for everything, Matt. I know it’s not easy to keep a secret like ours, and from everyone. It means a lot. Plus doing the locks, I know when I go over later to pack I’ll feel safe, which isn’t exactly something I’ve always felt. You barely know me, and you’re still there to help out.” She finished by drinking more of her water, trying to ignore his eyes on her.

“Kelly’s been my best friend since we were kids, of course I’d do that. Plus, you’ve become close to him now. I know you’re not right romantically for each other, but you’re the only woman except Shay who he’s been able to be friends with, so I’m glad he’s got you. You’ve been here for a few months, we’re family. Our job is hard enough, we’ve got to work together to make sure that everyone gets home. So when someone’s important to one of us, you’re important to all of us. Coffee?” He held a mug out to her, which she gratefully took and drank from.

The smell of the food woke the sleeping residents of the apartment, and the foursome ate together before Sylvie ducked into Kelly’s bathroom to change and pack her gym bag.

“I’m heading out, I’ve got a Zumba class I was looking forward to later, and then I want to do some packing and work out what I can even take from the apartment. I’ll text when I’m on the way back.” She squeezed Gabby’s shoulder, gave Kelly a full hug and waved at Matt while she left.

The Zumba class was the highest rated on Yelp she could find, and apparently the instructor wasn’t bad to look at either. She paid for a course of ten classes, and was glad to see she wouldn’t need to miss any because of her shifts. She changed into her leotard, and went into the class.

They were dancing along, mimicking the instructor’s actions. He was facing away from them and Sylvie enjoyed watching his butt move in time to the 80s music. He turned around, calling instructions out and Sylvie’s stomach dropped. The cute, best rated Zumba instructor in Chicago was Joe Cruz. Oh god.

She ignored the feeling in her stomach, just looking forward to her workout, but Cruz spotted her. He subbed out an instructor and called her to the side.

“Who sent you?”

“Nobody sent me.”

“Then why are you doing a Zumba class in Pilsen of all places?”

“Because I live here, Cruz. It was highly rated on Yelp, and I just wanted somewhere to work out, that’s all. I don’t care who the instructor is.” She just wanted to get back to the class, she didn’t care who the instructor was if he didn’t care.

“What do you want to keep you quiet? I don’t want anyone knowing my second job.”

“Everyone in the house has a second job, it seems like. I’m not going to tell anyone, I just want to get to work and do my job. I’ll keep my mouth shut, Joe.”

Using his first name seemed to make him realise she was serious, so he nodded. “Ok, let’s get back to class. I’m not going easy on you though, Brett.”

The class ended and she was sweating and out of breath, forgetting how much fun the workout was. She changed, grabbed her bag and left before Cruz could catch up with her, walking the few blocks to her apartment.

Nothing had changed since they were there the day before, Matt’s locks held up against the neighbourhood, and as soon as she was inside she locked it behind herself.

The place wasn’t too messy, she figured it was addicts looking for a quick score rather than someone going for something specific. It made packing a bit easier for her, and after putting some Taylor Swift on she started packing everything into the suitcases she’d arrived to Chicago with not long before.

Staring at the cases, it was nearly sad that it was what her life had ended up as. Three suitcases containing clothes and mementos, and a handful of CDs she’d been able to pack when Harrison had kicked her out of the house they shared. It’d be enough. It had to be.

Checking the time, Sylvie realised it was nearly five and Kelly would start worrying about her. She texted to ask for a ride because she’d finished packing, and he said he and Matt would be over to collect the boxes. By the time she’d finished typing that she didn’t have any, she figured they were probably on their way so she sat and waited, looking at the architecture that had drawn her in in the first place.

Kelly knocked on the door a few minutes later, and she opened it up to let the men in. They looked around for a moment, before settling on the cases she’d put on the floor.

“Is this it?” He asked, wanting to confirm it with her. They all knew Sylvie hadn’t come to Chicago with much, but to see it laid bare frustrated him.

“That’s everything I have, yeah. The place came furnished, I’m gonna have to go to Ikea to pick up a bed for the new place too.” She started making a mental list of everything, but before she could think too hard, Matt and Kelly had grabbed her cases and were bringing them outside. She locked the door behind them before putting the keys in an envelope and addressing them to her landlord with a stamp on it. There was a mailbox on the corner, and she ran to drop it in before getting into Kelly’s car. He smiled at her as they drove away, leaving her little apartment alone for the last time.

Their next shift started, and Sylvie felt finally used to what was going on. She was taking names and kicking ass, and it felt good to know what she was doing. She and Mills were halfway back to the house when the call came over the radio.

_“Ambulance 61, injuries from a fall. 815 South Nebraska.”_

“That’s around the corner, let’s grab it. Ambulance 61 en route to 815 South Nebraska.” Sylvie flicked the siren on and got them to the location, spotting a homeless man on the ground in the alleyway. It didn’t take long for them to get him on the gurney and strap him in for the trip to Med, when the hairs went up on the back of Sylvie’s head. She turned, and spotted the black town car that had boxed them in, then saw the gun raised at them.

It passed in a blur, but all she knew was her hands were tied behind her back, her hair was coming out of the ponytail she’d put it in that morning and her terror levels were off the charts. Mills was beside her, keeping quiet but she could tell he was as scared as she was.

“When I tell you to brace, brace,” he murmured, nudging Sylvie so she could tell he meant her. She nodded slowly, trying not to let the driver and his friend notice.

“Brett, BRACE!” Mills yelled, bringing up his feet to kick the driver. Sylvie dug herself into the footwell behind the passenger seat, using the seats as leverage to make sure she was safe. The car careened and spun, landing right way up but smoking. Sylvie got her bearings after a moment and made herself kneel, pulling the door open with her still bound hands and trying to run before her foot gave up.

“Get back here,” the passenger yelled, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her head up. “You hurt him, you fix him.” She was pulled into a warehouse, Mills close behind her, with the kidnapper supporting his injured friend who was losing consciousness by the moment.

“I need my hands so I can see how he is.” Sylvie said, proud her voice didn’t shake with what was going on.

“Fine. But one wrong move and you know what happens.” He cut the flex cuffs from behind her, and she stretched to move, grabbing the jump bag beside her. The guy did the same to Mills, who followed her lead.

She was slightly behind the two men, and felt the weight of her prep pads against her thigh as she moved. She grabbed a few out of her pocket, dropping them every few feet as she walked before getting into the garage and helping the driver up onto a table.

“Fix him. Now.” The passenger was waving a gun around at them, screaming to fix his partner. Time felt like it stood still for them as she and Mills fought to control the bleeding before realising they had to surgically repair it without any equipment. It just felt like time was going slowly and quickly at the same time until they ran to the store room to hide from the passenger. She held onto Mills for all she could, waiting for the door to smash open and the bullets to rain in. She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want it to be over.

The door smashed open and the shards of wood sprayed towards them, and she shut her eyes, holding Mills’ shoulder as he held her behind him. She took a deep breath in, preparing for the pain when she heard the shout.

“CHICAGO PD, DROP YOUR WEAPON.”

They watched as the barrel of the gun left the doorway and they heard the metal hit concrete. It was silent for a moment before Casey called them “Mills, Brett, you ok?”

“Yeah Lieutenant, we’re ok,” Mills replied as the two walked out together, seeing their coworkers there waiting for them. Sylvie finally felt relief seeing them, knowing it was over.

“Sylvie!” Kelly ran up and grabbed her around the waist, holding her tight for just slightly too long to be comfortable, but he was solid and he was there and they were alive. Dawson and Casey squeezed her shoulder as they went past to embrace Mills, making sure that she was still there. Kelly put an arm around her shoulder and lead her out to be examined by the paramedics who’d come over for them. She could feel the prying eyes of their coworkers on them, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Right Brett, I want to check you out in the hospital. The cuts on your fingers are pretty deep, they’re borderline for stitches. I want a doc at Med to check you out and decide. Lieutenant, we’ll let the house know what’s going on once we hear anything.” Rafferty went to kick Kelly out of the ambo, but Sylvie held onto him.

“He’s technically my next of kin, Rafferty, we’ve each other’s POA. Let him ride along, he’s just gonna pull up with all of 51 if you don’t let him.” Rafferty nodded at Sylvie’s words.

“Sure, whatever. An extra person won’t make much of a difference.”

The trip to Med didn’t take long, and Sylvie got away with just two stitches on the base of her middle finger from sawing herself free. By the time she was stitched and got her antibiotic shot, the rest of the house had arrived.

“Boden and Donna are upstairs, the baby’s still on the machines but they’re starting to be optimistic about what’s going on,” Herrmann said, smiling at Brett’s clean and bandaged hands.

“Wait, they had the baby, what? You should have told me!” She stared at her coworkers who had the grace to look slightly sheepish with her glare.

“We were slightly busy looking for you and Mills, come on. Can we see him yet, Herrmann?” Kelly said, finally giving Sylvie a little bit of space.

“Not yet. They’re waiting till he’s off the machines to let anyone see him, including Mom and Dad. Boden said to go home, 51 is out of commission till the morning. I’m heading to Molly’s and if any of you want a “oh thank God we got our medics back” drink, come on down.” He gave Mills and Brett a thumbs up as he left, smiling at them.

“God, a glass of wine sounds so good right now,” Sylvie said daydreamily.

“Let’s get down there then. I’ll give you a ride home so you can change and we’ll head around.” They waved goodbye to their coworkers, ignoring the quizzical looks on some faces.

“Who wants what date for when they announce to everyone they’re dating?” Otis smiled as he pulled out his date planner and an 8 colour pen, selecting pink for the Brett and Severide discussion. His colleagues crowded around calling out dates.

Within two hours Sylvie felt like a human again, and she happily accepted Kelly’s ride to Molly’s. The bar was quiet, and they just sat and talked to their coworkers, laughing about Donna’s Squad Truck delivery and the awkward request Kelly would have to put in for a new turnout coat. Sylvie’s phone buzzed, and she opened it up to read the message before dropping it and sighing.

“Great, just great. My new roomies have decided to fill the other room with someone else. More house hunting for me it seems like. It just sucks.” She drained her glass, and Kelly picked it up to get a refill for her. Gabby came over, nobody wanting to leave Sylvie alone.

“I heard what you said, the house fell through?” Sylvie nodded in response. “Look, I’m keeping this quiet for the next little while, Matt and I broke up earlier. I’m staying on my brother’s couch for the next while, but I need to find somewhere. I saw a lease available on a two bed in Wicker Park, I’m viewing it tomorrow. Do you want to view it with me and see if we can be roommates?” Gabby’s voice cracked slightly while talking, and Sylvie put her uninjured hand over Gabby’s, squeezing slightly to let her know she was there.

“Sounds perfect. I’m getting pretty fed up of couch life, can’t imagine what it’s like sharing with your brother.”

“Thanks Brett. Can you not tell Severide till Casey does? I don’t want him to have a scene here.” Sylvie nodded at the older woman, who squeezed her hand and left as Kelly arrived with their drinks.

“Everything good with Gabby?” He asked, depositing her white wine in front of her.

“Just checking in on the roommate situation. Gave me some ideas about what to do next.” Sylvie couldn’t lie, but talking around the truth helped a little.

“Sounds good to me! What do you say we finish these, go pick up some burgers for us and Matt, and head home. Gabby’s working tonight so there’s no point in getting her anything.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Sylvie responded, toying with her glass.

The smell of the Little Bad Wolf burgers were mouthwatering in the car, and Sylvie was reminded how little she’d had to eat that morning before she drank her wine. By the time they pulled up in front of the apartment she was terrified to go in and see what would happen, but couldn’t hide it anymore.

“Before we go in…it’s not my place to say, but Gabby said something happened between her and Casey earlier on. I don’t know what he’s gonna be like, but I don’t want us walking in there happy and then having to deal with whatever’s going on.” Kelly turned and looked at her, nearly spilling the cokes in the travel carton.

“Wait, what? Why didn’t you tell me already?” He didn’t yell, but he was close to it.

“Because Gabby asked me not to tell anyone, and specifically mentioned you. I’m only saying it now so I don’t have to look him in the eye and say I didn’t know. She’s staying with her brother right now.”

“Fuck. Ok, thanks. I get it, if things had been reversed I’d be the same. Let’s go bring him comfort food.”

They arrived into the dim apartment, and the first thing Kelly saw was Matt measuring a piece of drywall to fit a hole in the wall.

“Who looks worse, you or the other guy?” Kelly said, trying to make a stupid joke.

“I dunno, my knuckles got it pretty bad,” came Matt’s reply, staring at the hole he’d put there.

“Matt, you’re bleeding. C’mere, let me at least clean it out, there’s so much bacteria in that kind of thing. We brought food.” Sylvie led him to the table and grabbed their first aid kit, cleaning out his grazes with alcohol pads while staring at them. They weren’t deep, but they’d hurt like hell for the next few days.

“Where’s Dawson, Matt?” Kelly asked, keeping his voice even. He hadn’t seen his friend this bad even when Hallie had left him the first time.

“She’s gone. Said we couldn’t keep our relationship and our jobs, and work needed to come first. She packed her bags and she’s gone.” He sounded dazed and shocked. Sylvie finished what she was doing and grabbed her burger and tater tots, pulling them out.

“I’m gonna go eat in your bedroom, give you guys some space,” She whispered in Kelly’s ear, leaning her head into his shoulder for comfort. Between eating and the exhaustion of the day she’d had, she didn’t even realise when she fell asleep on his comfortable bed.

She woke to her phone ringing, and she grabbed it and answered without checking the number. “‘Lo?”

“Sylvie Brett? It’s Antonio Dawson, Gabby’s brother. Intelligence picked up your case thanks to who you’re dealing with. Look, it’s not looking good. Lullo’s got people scared, he might walk.Can you come down to the 21st? We’ve got an idea, but I need you to agree to it.”

She was wide awake with his words. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be in within an hour, need to get dressed and stuff. What do I do when I get there?”

“Tell Trudy you’re there to see intelligence. And wear something CFD related, it’ll help you get in.”

She dressed quickly, pulling on her CFD quilted jacket as she left Kelly’s room. Matt was already in the kitchen, a fresh coffee beside him.

“How’s your hand doing, Matt?” She asked, pulling down a mug and filling it for herself.

“It’ll get there. Thought you’d have been up later after the day you had yesterday.” He put on two extra eggs for her, scrambling them with his own. “Hard or soft scramble?”

“Soft, thanks. One of the detectives called, they need me to go over and talk about what’s going on. Not sure when it’ll be done, so I was going to get a cab.” She sat at the island counter, sipping her coffee and watching him cook.

“If Kelly’s still sleeping I’ll bring you over. Who were you talking to there?” He started serving up eggs and toast, passing the plate over to Sylvie.

“Antonio, I think? It wasn’t Jay anyway.” She knew exactly who she’d spoken to, but didn’t want to inflict any extra wounds.

“Gabby’s brother, he’s in intelligence with Jay. Probably not a good idea for me to walk in with you, but I’ll give you a ride and make sure Kelly’s up by the time you’re finished. Eat up and I’ll bring you.” He pointed at her food with a fork, handing it over to her.

The drive to the 21st was quick, and Sylvie blended in with the uniformed crowd in the lobby. As she walked up to the desk the Sergeant gave her a once over.

“I’m going to assume you’re Brett? Randy told me about you and what happened yesterday. I’ll buzz you upstairs, go up and to your right, into the cage. Dawson and Voight are upstairs waiting for you.” Sylvie nodded and turned to go upstairs, hearing the harsh buzz let her in the door.

Halstead stood as he saw her come up, checking her over. “You doing ok, Brett? Med didn’t miss anything?”

“Nah, stitches in my finger, some scrapes and bruises and what’s looking like a mildly impressive black eye. I didn’t have time for makeup to hide it, is that ok?” She asked, looking at the two men she didn’t recognise.

“You look fine. Thanks for coming down, you probably didn’t want to leave bed today,” the older man said, his gravelly voice nearly too deep for her to listen to.

“I’m sleeping on a friend’s couch, not much to leave. What do I need to do?” She wanted it over and done with. The one who she thought was Gabby’s brother came over and gestured to a chair for her to sit down.

“I’m Antonio, Gabby’s brother, we talked on the phone?” Sylvie nodded so he’d continue. “Lullo knew he was sending someone after you and Mills, and so did his wife. What his wife didn’t know was that they’d be sending someone after someone who looks like, well, you. She’s coming in in thirty minutes to be here when he’s released, and I want you to sit beside her in the waiting area. Ask her why she’s here, she’ll be nice and do the same to you. Tell her what happened, that you don’t know who’s behind it and you’re terrified for your life. Get juicy with it and she’ll take the bait to lure him in we think.” Sylvie paled at his words, looking even whiter behind her bruises.

“I don’t know how much your sister told you, but I am an awful liar. I don’t know if I can do this.” She wanted out, but she didn’t want to look over her shoulder for all time.

“You can do this, Brett. The wife’s anger will help us put him away. Right now she thinks he’s just into drugs and that’s why he’s here, but when she sees you looking innocent and beaten up it’ll help make the case a bit better.” The older man said. “I’m Sergeant Voight, head of this unit. If you tell me you don’t want to do it, we won’t make you. But I think you’re the key to stopping this.”

Sylvie took a deep breath and stood. “Where do you want me to be?”

The waiting area was industrial plain, but quiet considering it was 11am. The drunks were home and nobody who had been involved in anything that morning had been arrested yet. Sylvie sat there, bouncing her knee with nerves. She cringed every time she bounced it a little too high and the pain in her thigh was ignited, but she couldn’t stop the nervous tic. Before long a middle aged woman swept into the room. She wore all black and had her hair in a chic up-do. Sylvie smiled at her, then stopped, the movement of her cheek muscles too sore to take.

“Are you alright?” She asked, looking at Sylvie over the rim of her sunglasses.

“Stiff and sore. A detective was meant to be in to take my statement an hour ago, but I’m still waiting. Are you waiting on one too?”

“No. My husband was brought in on some trumped up charges, I’m here to bring him home. What happened, your face looks bad?” She removed the glasses with that question, her hazel eyes fixing Sylvie’s blue ones.

“I don’t really remember. I’m a paramedic, I was called to a scene and then someone came up behind me and took me and my partner. I don’t know why they did it, or what they wanted, but they held us at gunpoint. I’m just glad they lost control of the car so they couldn’t do whatever they wanted to us.” The realisation of how close she came to dying hit Sylvie all at once, and she let out a sob before closing her eyes so tears didn’t fall out. She was safe, she was alive, it was going to be ok.

“Oh you poor girl? Did they catch whoever did it?” She squeezed Sylvie’s hand as she cried, and Sylvie tried to calm down.

“They did, but they think someone hired them deliberately? I don’t even know, I just try save lives. I don’t know how someone can be so angry at a paramedic to do this. I’m just tired and hurt and I wish yesterday hadn’t happened.” As Sylvie finished speaking, Halstead knocked on the waiting room door.

“Paramedic Sylvie Brett? We’ve just got a few more questions before we can finish up your statement. Do you want to come through here with me? We’ll keep you on the ground level so you don’t have to risk anything in your thigh with the amount of damage it has.” She stood and nodded to Jay.

“Thanks for being so nice to me. I hope everything works out for you and your husband,” she said before walking out with Jay, who immediately brought her up to intelligence. They hovered around the camera feed from downstairs, before watching as Lullo’s wife made her way to Trudy at the desk.

“Sergeant? I need to report a crime,” she said, getting Trudy’s attention. Whatever else happened was lost in the cheering between the group that it was going to come to an end.

“Good job, Brett. We’ll wait till she leaves before letting you go. Antonio, why don’t you bring Brett home?” Voight said, posing his order as a question.

“It’s fine. Kelly made me promise that I’d let him take me for lunch seeing as our breakfast plans got cancelled, he’s going to be waiting outside once I text him to pick me up. Thanks very much for the offer Sergeant, Detective.”

It didn’t take long for Paola Lullo’s words to cause a full confession from her husband, and Sylvie was allowed leave. Kelly was waiting for her in the reception area, and helped her down the stairs and into his car before bringing her for a celebratory lunch. It was just what Sylvie needed to finally feel like she was getting through it.


	4. Mermaids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The annulment is confirmed, Sylvie learns more about who she replaced, and she arranges a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come join me at my [tumblr](https://justanoffalygirl.tumblr.com) where I'm writing prompts from people, it's pretty fun!

Moving in with Gabby was a relief for Sylvie, and having her own bed felt like a luxury after two weeks on Casey and Kelly’s couch. She’d convinced Kelly to let Cruz bring her cases to the house, eager to stop any awkwardness between the two people she’d become closest to in the city.

Their friendship had been formed in the ambo, but kept going even with Gabby on the truck now. Sylvie could see how much her friend was hurting and tried to keep it together for the two of them. Their nights in with beers and takeout were becoming the night before shift regular programming and it made them both smile.

There was a rapid knocking on the door, so she went to open it to get their Thai food from the PostMates driver. Instead Kelly was standing at the door, and he grabbed her and twirled her around.

“It arrived! We’re officially annulled and never were married, Syl,” he crowed, putting her down and handing her annulment certificate form over.

“Oh thank God!” She said quickly while reading the certificate. Everything was in order, it was all perfect and they were officially no longer married and never had been as far as the law was concerned.

“C’mon, let’s go to Mollys to celebrate. Shay’s sister is coming into town tomorrow so I want to have a night out before seeing Megan.” He went to reach for her coat, but Sylvie put a hand on his arm.

“I can’t. Gabby and I have a pre shift routine that involves beers, Flip or Flop and takeout. I thought you were the PostMates guy with our Thai food. I’ll see you on shift tomorrow, Kelly.” She kissed his cheek goodbye as he opened the door to leave. Kelly walked out as the food arrived, so she handed over a tip and brought the two bags into the living room where Gabby sat on the couch. She was peeling the label off her beer bottle and smiled as Sylvie handed over her beef green curry.

“Kelly says hi, he came to drop some stuff off for me.” Sylvie said, putting Flip or Flop on and opening her Pad Thai, inhaling the spicy sweet scent.

“Yeah? What did he want?” Gabby replied, trying and failing to make herself sound like she liked her ex’s best friend.

“Our annulment came through, it arrived today. I’m officially a single woman at last. Now I just need to sell the rings and it’ll be like it never happened.”

“How do you feel about it all?”

“I have no idea. I’m glad it’s annulled, I’m glad it’s done with. But if we hadn’t gotten super drunk and gone to Vegas, I wouldn’t be friends with him. So it wasn’t a nice thing, but I’m glad of the results if that makes sense?” She speared a prawn with her fork, popping it into her mouth with gusto.

“Yeah, it does. I’m glad Matt and I were together, I’m so glad we dated and got engaged and he was there for me. But I wish it could have ended differently.” Gabby tried hiding her sob with shoving rice in her mouth, but it didn’t work. She could feel her roommate’s eyes staring at her until she looked up.

“You’re forgetting one thing, Gabriela Dawson, and that’s if there’s anyone you know in Chicago who has gone through this, it’s me. I know what it’s like to think someone’s the love of your life and realise that it’s not right. And it sucks and it’s awful, but bottling it all up isn’t going to help matters for it either. You need to let yourself feel about it before it eats you whole.” Sylvie put her food on the coffee table, turning to give Gabby her full attention.

“Tonight’s a judgment free zone, just you and me. What’s going on with you? How’re you feeling about everything? Just talk about it, it’ll help.”

Gabby talked and talked and talked for over an hour, telling Sylvie the full story of her and Matt. How she’d nearly made a move when he and Hallie split up, how they got back together then split then together then split and it drove her insane to watch until Hallie was gone and Matt was a mess, and she helped him get picked up. By the end of it Gabby was crying and Sylvie had wrapped an arm around the older woman’s shoulders, holding her tight to let her get through it.

They stayed like that for what could have been minutes, could have been hours, until Dawson shrugged her off and gave a watery smile. “Thanks, Sylvie. I didn’t know how much I needed that.”

“Consider it a roomie bonus. Did I ever tell you the story about my little brother?” Gabby shook her head, so Sylvie continued. “When he was three, Mom and Dad decided to do some work on the house, but it meant the entire back was unusable. I was seven, so it was decided we’d share a room for the few months his was out of commission. So I was annoyed, but I said ok and moved my Barbie mountain to make space for a second bed. The first night we shared he’d gone to bed at seven and I was going up at eight. I got into my PJs, into bed and he pops up, and turns to me grinning. Then he comes out with “Sylvie, we’re MERMAIDS!” and gave me a giant hug. He meant to say roommates, but he was three and just couldn’t get it out. There’s nobody I’d rather be mermaids with than you, Gabby.”

They separated and cleared up the now cold food, putting leftovers in the fridge. It didn’t take long for them to go to bed, and Sylvie slept soundly for the first time in weeks, not worrying about anything in her personal life.

The next morning was busy for her, she and Mills were in and out of the house constantly. Gabby introduced her to Shay’s sister, but she decided to keep her distance. Kelly had told her more than once that he kept mistaking her for Shay when she was in her uniform, and she wasn’t going to do that to the poor woman. It had seemed to be going fine until she appeared on their couch the afternoon after their next shift, a glass of wine in her hand with Gabby when Sylvie arrived in from Zumba.

The three women talked, while Megan and Gabby traded stories about Shay at the station and as a child. They were past merry and well on their way to drunk when three firm knocks rattled on the front door. Sylvie stood to open it, and Kelly nearly bowled her over on the way to Gabby with papers in his hand.

“Megan, you wanna help me with the finishing touches on a pear tart?” Sylvie nearly cringed as she said the words, but she wanted to give the woman a chance to get out of the room instead of hearing about her sister’s death.

“I need to hear this.” She was to the point, and Sylvie picked up her glass and went into the kitchen. She pulled up the Seamless app, and put in a pizza order for the foursome, figuring Kelly probably wasn’t eating while working out what happened with Shay. It didn’t take long for the food to arrive, and Sylvie put it out on the coffee table for everyone to take slices as they wanted. She squeezed Kelly’s arm as she stepped back with a slice of sausage and pepper for herself. He startled, spotting the food beside him and smiled at her.

He left soon after, brandishing the papers he’d brought with him. The three women settled down for more drinks, until Gabby came out with “Why don’t you do a ride along with Sylvie and Mills tomorrow? It’ll be fun, you can see what your sister did day to day.” Sylvie stared at Gabby, but swallowed some wine.

“Yeah, come along. Mills won’t mind, it’ll be fun,” she said, smiling and trying to be happy with the two of them.

The shift wasn’t too bad, but they were called out to a mental health crisis and Sylvie’s eyes widened. He seemed so scared and alone, and she nearly got him calmed down. Which was when he came at her with a knife to her throat. She closed her eyes and took as deep a breath as possible before speaking.

“I know you don’t want to hurt me, do you?”

“No, but I have to.” He loosened the knife slightly on her, but kept his arm wrapped around hers. “Tell them I’m armed and dangerous. Say it just like that, armed and dangerous.” He swung her around towards Mills, who nodded once. He went to stab at Mills who’d moved closer, and Sylvie took her chance and got loose, watching as Mills put the man on his stomach and held his arms back. Burgess and Roman arrived and took him into custody, nodding at Sylvie.

“What’d he do?”

“Came at me with a knife.” Sylvie replied, rubbing her throat.

“It’s right there.” Mills pointed at the switchblade now that Roman had the man in custody. “He’s armed and dangerous.”

“Thank you. It’s a parole violation, I’m not cut out for the outside.” The man’s face lit up with joy at going back into jail, and Sylvie felt her stomach sink at the thought.

“Come on, let’s go.” Roman pulled the assailant to the car as Burgess waited to say goodbye.

“Mills, Brett. It’d be nice to not see you at a crime scene one of these days,” she said, waving goodbye and following her partner.

“You ok?” Mills came running over, lifting up Sylvie’s chin to check her throat. There was a small pink line that would fade within a day, but it was a terrifying thing to see.

“Yeah, you?”

“Yeah, of course.” They went over to their ride along partner who was standing there, stone faced.

“Megan, you ok?” Sylvie asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

“I’m fine, really.” She said, but neither paramedic bought it.

“That was par for the course. It’s not even in the top ten of scary calls; trust me.” Sylvie said, trying to inject some levity into her tone.

“That’s what she did? She went through it everyday and she never said anything to me. I’d ask her how her day was, and she would just make some inappropriate joke to get me laughing. I had no idea.” Tears started down Megan’s cheeks, and Sylvie was at a loss of what to say.

“Listen…that is the way Shay was.” Mills took up Sylvie’s position supporting Megan. “I mean, she never wanted anyone to waste any time worrying about her. She just wanted to make everyone smile.”

“Yeah, yeah she did.” Megan replied through tears with a small smile forming on her face.

“Let’s get back to the house and get some hot chocolate.” Sylvie opened the passenger side door of the Ambo for Megan before getting into the back of the rig herself. She knew they were pulling it offline for an hour or two for whatever Kelly had planned for that afternoon, so she wanted them in before it was pulled.

The ceremony was the hardest thing she’d ever done. She was initially supposed to be Gabby’s replacement for Gabby moving house and being a candidate, but instead took over from Shay. She’d never met the woman, but her talks with Kelly about his best friend had told her so much about the woman the entire house still held in very high esteem. She followed Boden’s orders, saluting and standing to attention in her brand new dress blues. The one thing Sylvie could think during the entire event was that she wouldn’t have to wear this uniform again for a very long time, this house couldn’t handle losing anyone else.

By the time shift was over and they’d napped, the only thing Sylvie wanted was to spend time outside her apartment and outside the firehouse. So as always with her friends, she ended up in Molly’s. The Chief introduced her to his father, and they all shook the former cop’s hand. The night was lovely, until a blonde woman had arrived and told them they couldn’t prosecute Shay’s murder. Gabby put her bottle down on the table, hard before walking out while the rest of them looked at her dumbstruck.

Sylvie could feel the tension rising from Kelly’s body beside her, and she nudged his arm with her elbow, reminding him they were in public and he couldn’t do what he wanted just then. The Captain left the remaining folks behind, who sat around the table in stunned silence.

“So that’s it then? He gets away with killing my sister?” Megan broke the spell with her words. Nobody wanted to say a word, so Sylvie turned to the bar and flagged down Herrmann.

“We need shots, now. What did Shay drink?” She asked, looking at the bottles behind him.

“Cunningham did what I thought she would, didn’t she? Spineless up there in OFI. I’ll bring tequila for the table, give me a minute. This one’s on me, Brett. Just don’t tell them.”

True to his word in two minutes there was a bottle of tequila there, with shot glasses for the six of them. Sylvie filled the glasses up as Gabby arrived back in, sliding her phone in her coat pocket.

“To Shay. I didn’t know her, but I really, really wish I had.” Sylvie lifted a shot and the others followed, downing them in one. She grimaced at the harsh liquor and clanked her glass back on the wooden table.

“I was on the phone to Antonio. Intelligence are gonna take a look and see what they can find out.” Gabby let out her words as if she was exhaling, it all bundled up together.

“No offence Dawson, but do we really want Voight anywhere around this if we want an arrest to stick?” Kelly asked, his alcohol consumption lowering his already faulty filter.

“It’s not just Voight, it’s Antonio. I’d trust him with anything, but especially this.” Her words were harsh as she spoke, and Kelly lifted his hands up.

“Ok, cool. Let me know what they need from us.”

It didn’t take long for Gabby and Sylvie to decide to go home. Megan had decided to get a hotel for a couple of nights to have her own space, and the two women just wanted to be alone for a while.

The next day dawned early for Sylvie, and she put on her music and started doing all the chores she kept meaning to get done. Despite living mainly in her uniform clothes needed to be washed and the apartment needed to be swept and mopped. After a few hours she decided to get some groceries to keep them going for the next few days while Gabby and Kelly were helping with the investigation.

There was a guy standing a little too close to her in the store, but she ignored him. It was a sad fact of life that so many men thought they could stand close to her and she’d fall madly in love with them. She kept her head forward, picking out produce and pasta for their dinner instead of ordering yet more takeout. Her budget couldn’t cope with constant seamless deliveries.

Stepping back, she bumped into the guy and tripped, but he grabbed her arm and held her up.

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she said, nodding at him and stepping back. Even though he’d helped, she still felt freaked out. He nodded and let her go, and Sylvie made her way straight to the cashier to pay for everything. She’d paid and was about to leave when the guy ran up to her and and handed over her phone.

“You dropped this, I wanted to return it,” he said, passing over her phone that fortunately hadn’t cracked.

“Thanks so much, I’d be lost without it,” Sylvie smiled, taking it. Looking into the guy’s eyes her smile faded slightly. His green eyes looked dead, and he had a horrible combover on top of his head.

“I’m Ross McGowan, do you want to get a drink sometime?” He asked, stepping slightly closer to Sylvie. She stepped back, putting her phone in her jeans pocket and moving to turn.

“No thanks, I’m seeing someone. Thanks for the offer though.” She left immediately, walking around the block the wrong way to throw him off the scent of her heading to Dawson’s car. She felt safe after not seeing him for a few moments, so pulled out and drove home, keeping an eye out for him anyway.

The food was there on the table when Gabby arrived home, flopping onto the couch with a grunt. Sylvie arrived out with a plate of chicken Alfredo, handing it over to her roommate with one hand while using the other to put the two beers she’d brought out on the coffee table.

“Thanks, Sylvie. Gish is such an ass, we can’t do anything and I don’t know how we can’t.” Gabby started eating, and Sylvie waited for her to be ready to speak.

“We were basically able to confirm that Gish killed Shay, and he killed Peter Mills’ dad and another firefighter in that fire twenty years ago. Boden’s pissed, we don’t know how or why this is happening, and we’re just stuck waiting for more information. Chief’s agreed to give me tomorrow off, I just can’t cope with work while waiting to hear from Antonio with what’s going on.” She took a swallow of her beer and curled her feet under her thighs.

“I’ll try take an hour tomorrow for us to get lunch. I can’t promise that I won’t get called away in the Ambo, but Mills won’t mind me coming and meeting you for food. Sound good?”

“Thanks, Roomie. You’ve been amazing since I moved in, thank you.” They sat in a companionable silence until Sylvie couldn’t keep her eyes open at the episode of CSI that was on.

Their shift was quiet for once, not that Sylvie would have said that out loud. She knew better than to tempt fate than that, and spent the morning restocking the ambo and going over the notes that the PIC from first shift had left for her and Mills. There was annoyance from on high that there was no PIC on the shift, but Boden was happy with their performance so nothing was said.

_Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61, stuck elevator, 6 South Loomis._

They swung into action, and went straight to the address. Sylvie and Mills pulled up first and grabbed the gurney out, getting it ready to go in. She looked around the abandoned cars, realising with a sinking feeling in her chest that every one of them belonged to Intelligence.

“Something’s wrong, Mills,” she said as gunshots erupted from the building. Squad pulled up as the shots ended, with Truck just behind them. Peter and Sylvie ran in first, and the stench of gasoline was all encompassing. It only took a moment before they spotted Gabby being led out of the building, held up by her brother. Her hair was wet and she looked drained but almost happy.

“Gabby!” Sylvie ran up and wrapped her arms around her friend, helping Antonio hold her up. “What happened?” Her question was directed to the older detective.

“Gish cornered her, pretended he was texting her from your phone. He set the elevator up to burn, but we got him before he did it. He’s not going to hurt anyone else.” Sylvie smiled at his words, hating to take comfort from it, but glad her friend was ok.

“Thanks, Antonio. We’ll bring you to the ambo to make sure you’re ok, Gabby. Gasoline fumes can have the same effect as smoke inhalation and we want to avoid it.”

The two of them walked her out, Mills following behind with the gurney. Everyone from 51 was standing outside, and she spotted Kelly hold Matt back from running over to them.

“You ok, Candidate?” Herrmann called, and Gabby raised a thumbs up to them all. She willingly sat on the back of the ambo, and Mills and Brett gave her all the privacy from the rest of their colleagues they could. Her chest sounded clear, but Sylvie gave her strict instructions that if it hurt or she started feeling dizzy to call her and they’d bring her to med themselves. By the time they’d finished clearing her, Voight had come out and Boden and Kelly had come over to their small group.

“Sergeant, what happened?” Boden was first to speak.

“Trenton LaMont, AKA Adrian Gish, AKA Ross McGowan was killed so we could save the life of a civilian he was trying to kill in an arson attack. We were able to link him to at least seven arson events, including the ones that killed Leslie Shay, Henry Mills and Ross McGowan. We’ll have our techs be in there to confirm everything, but it was a good shot and the right thing to do.” Voight put his hand on Antonio’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Wait, McGowan? I met him yesterday, he gave me back my phone,” Sylvie pulled out her phone from her pocket, unlocking the screen and checking it.

“What do you mean?” Antonio asked.

“I was in the grocery store yesterday, we bumped into each other and my phone fell out of my hoodie pocket. I didn’t realise, and he found me after I paid and gave it back.”

“Fuck. That’s how he cloned it. He was texting Gabby pretending to be you, said you were going to get lunch and to meet you here. Was it this guy?” Antonio held up a smartphone, a photo of McGowan or whatever his name was on it.

“Yeah, that’s him. Crap. I had no idea, I didn’t know what he looked like, I swear.” Kelly wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“That’s our fault, we should have told you. You’re ok and Gabby’s safe, and that’s the main thing for us now.” He squeezed and let go, aware of the people around them.

“I’m going to pull our house out of service and get relief in,” Boden cut across, making sure everyone heard him. “We’ve had enough for today, we need a break. I’ll tell everyone when we get back. Dawson, do you want to come back with us or stay with your brother?”

Gabby shuddered at being spoken to, but stood up. “I’m going to stay here, Chief. Antonio’ll bring me home, I can’t face the house right now. I just want to shower and relax.”

They made it back to 51 and it didn’t take long for folks from first and third shift to arrive in for the overtime. Once two paramedics had arrived, Sylvie and Mills changed their clothes and went to Mollys which had been designated the official meeting point for second shift.

Arriving in, the one thing Sylvie noticed was there was no music playing. Normally someone would have music going, but the only noise was glasses and muffled conversation. She got a beer off Herrmann, and sat on a stool opposite the bar. Kelly and Matt arrived in soon after and joined her, Kelly sitting beside her and Matt opposite. She moved her beer to her left hand as Kelly kept his left hand on her arm, and she appreciated the warmth coming from him. They had stupid small talk until Matt broke through with a question.

“Is she actually ok, Sylvie?” Matt asked, running his finger through the condensation on his glass. Sylvie swallowed.

“Is this as Matt, or as Lieutenant Casey looking out for his candidate?” she asked, taking a sip before he answered.

“Lieutenant Casey wanting to know if he needs to call in relief for his candidate next shift,” he said, but Sylvie didn’t believe him. He still gave her the magic words, so she’d ease some of his conscience.

“She’ll be fine. Some gas inhalation, nothing too serious. I told her to rest up and drink plenty of fluids, and stay away from smoke or anything that could irritate her lungs for a day or so.” Sylvie couldn’t help notice the smile that broke out on his face at her words.

“Thanks, Brett,” he murmured, downing the rest of his drink. He pointed at their almost empty glasses and when he got a nod went over to order for them. As soon as he went, Sylvie nearly dropped into Kelly, but remembered their colleagues were around just in time.

“That was the scariest moment of my life, Kelly,” she said, putting a lock of hair behind her ear. “I could smell the gas and I saw intelligence’s cars and I heard the shot and I thought I was going to pull a friend’s body out of there. Instead she’s fine but I can’t stop with the “what if” moments, you know?” He squeezed her wrist, the firm even pressure reminding her that she was ok.

“You should have been scared. It’s natural and normal and exactly what any of us would have done. But now we do the thing where we remember that it’s ok to be nervous and scared, and we got out alive. Everyone is fine so we let it go.” He gave her a final squeeze before letting go of her wrist as Matt reappeared with two beers and what looked like a strawberry Margherita in his hand for her.

“Figured you could do with something sweet and nice,” he said, pushing the cocktail over to her. Sylvie smiled and took a sip, smiling wider at the taste.

“Much appreciated, thanks. Next round’s on me.” They settled into conversations about everything and nothing, and stayed like that until Gabby and Antonio walked into the bar. Gabby smiled, raising her arm in triumph as the shift cheered her arrival. She looked nothing like the scared friend Sylvie had treated that day.

“I’m going to go spend time with her, ok?” Her question wasn’t really a question, and Kelly squeezed her arm in approval. Matt nodded and understood, and she took her drink over to the table Antonio had procured for Gabby. She sat down, and was almost immediately met with Gabby’s arms around her.

“I’m not a hugger, but I need this. Thanks, Sylvie. You’re a damn good roommate.” They held onto each other for a moment before separating, the look in each other’s eyes enough to know they’d solidified their friendship.

Antonio arrived over with drinks for them, and Sylvie spent her evening with the siblings, chatting and relaxing and finally feeling the weight and stress leave them. She was pleasantly buzzed when they decided to leave, and Antonio agreed to get the cab with them to make sure they were home safe.

Once they got home, they put a very drunk Gabby into bed before sitting on the couch to unwind for a while. Sylvie made them both coffee, and they turned on the TV to watch a Blackhawks game. She didn’t totally notice that they were moving closer, until Antonio did the incredibly teenage thing of stretching and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Sylvie stilled for a moment before settling into his arms.

Their coffee mugs were left on the table, and Sylvie ended up on top of Antonio, kissing him deeply and straddling his hips. His lips were rough against hers, dragging against her soft skin. His hands went from her head to her waist, holding her steady as they made out like teenagers at a party. Time passed quickly and slowly at the same time until their lips separated, needing air more than kisses. Once they stopped kissing, Sylvie immediately felt awkward and went to get off him, but Antonio held her there.

“You don’t need to move, Sylvie. I’m glad to keep you right there,” he murmured, bucking his hips up to her and kissing at the spot on her neck that made her groan.

“Not here, and not now,” she said, separating and standing up, running a hand through her hair and straightening her shirt. “We had an emotional day, and I’m not going to do a one night thing with my roommate’s brother. I’ve moved twice in six months so I’m not moving again. We’d regret it.”

Antonio stood too, adjusting himself as he did. “That’s ok. I get it. Then can I take you for lunch tomorrow? Portillos at Clark and Ontario at one?”

Sylvie smiled at the offer. “Sounds good. I’ll see you then.” She walked the detective to the front door and opened it to let him out. Before he walked out the door, he turned and kissed Sylvie firmly on the mouth. It was chaste, and it was sweet, but it was hard enough that she knew he meant business.

“See you tomorrow,” he said against her skin, giving her one quick kiss on the cheek before leaving. She closed and locked the door behind her, before going to the bathroom and smiling at her kiss swollen lips and the slight beard rash against her chin.


	5. Italian Beef and Chill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sylvie goes on a first and second date, eats pizza with friends, and confides in Kelly about her blossoming relationship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See that rating up there? See how it's changed from Teen to Explicit? We're going there, folks. This is the first time I've written anything smutty, I hope it's ok?

Sylvie slept better than she thought she would that night, waking up later than normal to a quiet apartment. She had three hours until she was going to meet Antonio for lunch, and she was excited to meet him and see what would happen. She showered and shaved her legs, taking her time to do her hair and makeup before dressing. It was still November in Chicago, so she grabbed a heavy jacket to wear over her jeans and sweater.

Gabby was lying on the couch with the curtains closed, a glass of water almost empty in front of her. She waved at the noise of Sylvie moving through the room, before sitting up slowly. “How much did I drink? Can you get me water and an Advil?” Sylvie grabbed her glass and filled it, handing over the painkillers and glass to her. Gabby took them, drank, then stood up. She kept her balance and smiled, taking in Sylvie’s outfit. “You’ve got a date, what’s going on?”

Sylvie smiled, trying to hide her worry about Gabby’s response. “I’m getting lunch with a friend, that’s all. We’re going to Portillo’s for sandwiches.” She sat on the couch beside Gabby to settle in for the talk.

“Who with? Is it a friend or a friend?” Gabby’s insinuation was clear, and Sylvie laughed.

“I’m getting sandwiches with your brother, Gabby. We’re just getting food, he helped me get you home from Molly’s last night.”

“That’s bull. He told me you were cute, you know. He’s gonna think it’s a date, are you ok with that?” Gabby blinked the hangover cloudiness from her eyes and stared straight at Sylvie, making Sylvie feel like she was under a microscope.

“We made out last night after you went to bed, but I wasn’t going to sleep with my friend’s brother for a one night thing. So we’re getting food, and we’ll see what happens.” Gabby smiled at her, making Sylvie feel better.

“Good! You could be good for each other. His divorce is settled, and it was tough on him. Laura didn’t get what being a cop is like and what it can do to and for you. You’re a paramedic, you get it though. Good luck, and I want the PG rated details when you get back, he’s still my brother.” Gabby chased her off the couch, before flopping back down with her eyes closed. Sylvie quietly left the apartment, getting the El to make her way to Portillos.

It was a Friday afternoon, and things weren’t too busy. They’d missed the worst of the lunch rush, and Antonio had arrived first to grab them a table. She ordered an Italian Beef sandwich, a shake and a slice of chocolate cake, and he did the same.

The first few minutes were awkward as they tried to work out what they were doing. It was the first time they’d been without any of their coworkers in the same place, and it took time for them to relax and just talk. Before too long Antonio was telling her stories about his time in Intelligence and how he’d worked on cases, and she explained how she ended up in Chicago in the first place.

“I guess that was breaking first conversation rule number one, don’t mention your exes,” she said, taking a sip of her strawberry shake

“We’re both adults, I don’t blame you for mentioning it. I’m gonna guess Gabby mentioned my divorce to you. After the last time I was shot, Laura couldn’t put up with my job anymore. It’s not pretty, but we’ve divided custody and the kids are ok which is important. I see them most weekends and I’m over for dinner every few nights.” He squeezed Sylvie’s hand to punctuate his words, and she smiled.

“Once we finish this food, wanna walk down to Navy Pier? It’s cold but the ferris wheel is fun, and I think we could enjoy it.” Sylvie nodded, and after he paid - against her wishes, but he got there first - they walked hand in hand down to the pier. She hadn’t been down here since she’d moved, and the bright colours made her grin. She managed to pay for the ferris wheel, and they sat in their pod, watching the city skyline as they rose. It didn’t take long before they were near the top, the stop start motion of their trip a constant as people got on and off. She looked around, but before long felt Antonio’s cool lips on the side of her neck. They made out like teenagers in the pod for a few moments, separating before they made it to the bottom of the wheel.

The rest of the date was spent hand in hand watching everything. He brought her through the Pier and showed her different attractions, before they decided to walk the Riverwalk together. It was cold but beautiful, and they stayed close together as they walked, Antonio pointing out different buildings and their histories.

“I don’t want to presume anything, but we’re nearly at my apartment. Do you want to come up for a coffee to heat up?” He’d wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked, holding her close to him. Sylvie smiled at his words.

“That’d be lovely,” she replied, kissing his cheek. They kept their strolling pace as they got to his apartment building, and managed to keep their hands off each other until they’d gotten into his apartment. After that, all pretences were dropped.

Sylvie felt alive with him, her back against the wall. They stumbled to the couch, kicking off shoes and removing their jackets as they moved. She ended up with her boots and socks off, jacket off and sweater up around her chest as his hands moved, groping and feeling all of her.

“Get it off,” she murmured, pulling his button-down out from his pants, quickly opening the buttons from the bottom as he opened from the top. As he shrugged it off and removed his undershirt she lifted the bottom of her sweater to fully pull it off.

“Let me,” he groaned into her neck, taking the soft pink fabric and lifting it over her head. She wasn’t wearing her sexiest underwear, but his eyes darkened as he saw the light purple lace over her breasts. “God you’re gorgeous.” His lips attacked her chest, kissing and nipping. It was almost too much and not enough for her.

Her hands went to his belt, and between the two of them they were left in just their underwear, Sylvie under him as he kissed her, his hands playing with her nipples. A slight squeeze made her groan, and their hips locked with fabric between them.

“‘Tonio, please touch me,” she begged, feeling his hands move down to her hips, gently pulling down the matching underwear to leave her bare and open to him. She felt exposed, but after just a moment his thumb touched her clit and began rubbing large open circles around it, gradually making them smaller until he was rubbing it directly. She moaned at the touch, looking down at him with lust in her eyes.

In one swift move he replaced his fingers with his tongue and started eating her out. Sylvie groaned, embarrassment starting but then the pleasure overtook her. She bit her lip as she moaned, and hearing his groan of “Cum for me, Sylvie,” led her over the edge, his fingers in her and his tongue sucking her clit.

After her orgasm she was sensitive and tender, and they made out until she was ready for more. Before too long she was ready, and she made her way down Antonio’s body, kissing and licking as she went. She saw the bullet wounds on his abdomen, and made sure to lavish attention on them as she moved down, making sure he knew she wasn’t ignoring them.

He was almost fully hard by the time she made her way to his cock, and she knew if they wanted full sex this wouldn’t last long. Licking his balls, she felt him shudder as she took his cock in her mouth and sucked lightly. Within a minute he’d pulled her off him and lifted her against him, carrying her with her legs wrapped around his waist to his bedroom. He deposited her at the top of the bed.

“I need to be in you, baby,” he groaned in her ear, reaching over to his nightstand for a condom. She took it from him and rolled it on, giving him a few pumps through the thin latex as he laid her down. She was ready for him, and moaned in pleasure as he entered her. They didn’t last long, it was fast and dirty and perfect for them. She bit back a scream of an orgasm, and he followed over just behind her, the two of them ending in a sweaty mess. They laid like that for a moment until Antonio stood and went to the bathroom. Sylvie sat up, her arms like noodles, looking for him to come back. It didn’t take long for him to, and he got back into bed, spreading the comforter over them and holding her tight as they napped together.

Antonio invited her to stay for dinner, but she didn’t want to overstay her welcome or make Gabby worried. They kissed goodbye at the front door to his apartment building, and she got into an uber to make her way home. She was home within twenty minutes, and opened the front door to see Gabby sitting on the couch watching NCIS.

“Hey! How was it, what did you do?” She turned to look at Sylvie, eyes widening slightly when she saw her hair and how dishevelled her clothing was. “Wait, I don’t want to know. Are you happy?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I am. I don’t know what’ll happen, but I’m happy.” Sylvie poured herself a mug of coffee and stood at the counter, waiting for her friend to make a comment.

“That’s the important bit. I know he’s my brother, but you’re my best friend and I want to make sure you’re ok with it. I can slap him upside the head and the only thing that’ll happen is Mama will yell.” Gabby refilled her own mug as Sylvie stood motionless.

“I’m ok. We talked, he told me about Laura and the kids, and we’re just going to play it by ear I guess. Whatever happens will happen.” Sylvie drained her mug, the caffeine just what she needed. “I’m gonna go for a shower and make dinner, what do you want to eat? I’m thinking stir fry.” She walked off to Gabby agreeing, and got into a hot shower.

There were love bites on her collarbones, and one sucked in at the base of her neck. She thought Antonio would be similar, but couldn’t fully remember. She showered and stretched, the hot water easing muscles that hadn’t been used in months. After she was clean and dry she put on a comfy tee and a pair of sweatpants, going into the kitchen to cook.

Their second day off passed peacefully. Antonio had texted her a few times to let her know he was with his kids for the Saturday, and he’d be in touch. She spent most of it on the couch with Gabby, watching the first snow of the year come down outside. It was peaceful and just what she needed before another shift at 51.

From the moment the first bells went off at 8.07am that morning, Sylvie essentially didn’t stop. The thawing and refreezing of yesterday’s snow meant that traffic accidents were the topic of the day, and she was left dealing with a lot of cuts and grazes. They only had a few runs to Med, handing off to the ER team. It didn’t leave a lot of time for them to do anything except eat and restock. Finally things calmed down around ten that night, and she sat on the couch curling up with Pouch. Kelly handed over a mug of coffee, which she accepted gratefully.

“Haven’t seen you around today,” he remarked, sitting beside her and shifting the dog into his lap so he could.

“It’s been one of those days. So many car crashes, it’s been non stop. What about you?” She asked, turning over to look at him.

“The same. We were at the same crash at Clark, right? We’d two others, but I don’t think you were at either of them.”

“Yeah, we had Clark. Then we had a couple near the lake, it was patch them up and move along. Mills is on paperwork duty tonight, but I’m pretty sure we did nine? Maybe ten, I lost count eventually.” She rubbed behind Pouch’s ear as she spoke, and the dog laid into her.

“Tough night. Wanna get breakfast after shift tomorrow? I was thinking that diner on Loomis, they do good pancakes.” He smiled as he spoke, and Sylvie couldn’t resist it. They hadn’t had time to themselves since she’d moved, and it’d be good to spend time with him.

“Sure, sounds like a plan-“ Before she could say anything else, the bells sounded.

_Squad 3, Ambulance 61, Road Traffic Accident on South Blue Island Avenue and West 18th Street._

“Let’s go, Brett,” he said, holding out his hand to help her up. They made it to their respective rigs and drove down to get to the scene.

It was chaos. A SUV had plowed into a minivan, and there were three kids in the back of the minivan. Sylvie put on her game face and went to work, taking the van while Peter checked the SUV. The driver of the minivan was gone before they’d gotten there, but she worked with Squad to get the roof off the car, calming down the kids in the back seat as they did it. The eldest had helped her hold a turnout coat over them as the glass broke to protect their faces, and they all worked together to get them out safely. Another ambo had arrived to take the passenger to Med, and she and Mills brought the kids in the back of their rig to the hospital.

“Where’s my mom?” The eldest one asked. The younger two had wrapped themselves around Sylvie, so he was sitting on the gurney, strapped down in case they stopped suddenly.

“They’re taking care of her, sweetie. Because we were first on scene, they give us the kids to get back. It’s not too safe for you to be around a car crash or in the cold for too long, so we’ll take you to the hospital where they’ll check you out.” She rubbed his hair, feeling small pieces of glass in it but no cuts.

“Ok. Thanks Miss…” he trailed off “What’s your name?”

“I’m Sylvie. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Thanks Miss Sylvie. I’m Jaden.”

It didn’t take long for them to arrive, and Sylvie transferred the kids to a waiting nurse. They were tired and stressed, but seemed to be ok for the moment. She waved goodbye to them as they were led away, wiping a tear from her eye as she turned.

“I hate these cases,” she said, blinking back the other tears she could feel coming.

“So do I. Let’s go back to the house,” Mills replied, handing her the keys to the ambo to drive them back.

By the time they arrived to the house, Squad had returned and were sitting at their table on the app floor. Sylvie waved over and got some waves back, before returning to her position on the couch. The rest of the shift was the q word, and she actually managed to get some peace and quiet there. Kelly arrived up to her around seven am and sat down.

“Still good for breakfast?” He asked, smiling again as he did.

“I don’t think so, sorry. I’m tired and I just want to go home and sleep for a year, or at least a few hours. Can we rain check and do dinner instead, or are you busy?”

“Dinner works! I can bring pizza over to yours, or do you want to go out?” He asked, looking more upbeat now they had a specific plan to nail down.

“It’s probably not a good idea. Gabby’s still hurting over everything, and I don’t think seeing you is a good thing for her. I’ll come up to the apartment and we can have food? Matt can join if he wants, or if you want just the two of us that’s fine too.” Kelly put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed in thanks.

You’re too damn good for us, Brett. I’ll order deep dish for the three of us, and you’ll probably be stuck watching the Bears game, but we’ll explain it all to you.” He stood to go change, the third shift team starting to wander into the common room.

“Perfect, five work?” They nodded and both went to change, Sylvie putting on her clothes and finally feeling ready to leave. Gabby waved her on to leave, wanting to run drills with Herrmann before heading home. As Sylvie left, she spotted Antonio who walked up and waved.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said, smiling at him. She wanted to hug him, but didn’t want their whatever was happening to be clear to everyone else.

“I’m not in work until nine, I thought we could grab breakfast before I head in? How was your shift?” He asked, taking her duffle from her shoulder.

“Busy, there was a lot of accidents. Let’s go get food, I’m starving.” Antonio led her to his car and they drove to a diner down the street from the 21st precinct. She looked out the window at it when they pulled up, smiling but wary.

“You know if we come in here, we’re essentially announcing we’re seeing each other, right? I’m ok with that, are you?” She asked, smiling at the broad smile that broke out over his face.

“Let them talk, I’ve heard the rumours about you and Severide. It’s none of their business what we do, but they do really good waffles here and I’m in the mood for them.” He got out of the car and fully opened Sylvie’s door before she could get it open.

The diner was busy, but they grabbed a table and ordered quickly, Antonio keeping an eye on the time. Shift change was at eight for most first responders in the city, but Voight kept his team to a different schedule. Sylvie filled him in on the way her shift went, and he consoled her about the kids she’d helped. All too soon it was time for him to go into work. Sylvie was dead on her feet, and ordered herself an uber to get back to her apartment and nap.

They stood outside the diner waiting for her uber, and when it pulled up she decided to lean in and give Antonio a searing kiss in front of everyone, before saying goodbye and getting into the car. She waved leaving, and about twenty seconds later her phone beeped. Picking it up, she laughed at his text.

_You are a dangerous woman, Brett. Dinner tomorrow night?_

_Sure, tell me when, where and the dress code._

It didn’t take long to get to her apartment, and she managed to trudge up the stairs and unlock the door, firmly locking it behind her. She collapsed on her bed still in clothes, and fell sound asleep.

She woke to knocking on her door, and her name being called. “Sylvie. Sylvie. SYLVIE,” Gabby called, knocking her fist against the wall.

“Huh? Wha?” She shot up, wondering what the hell was going on. Gabby laughed at her motions, calling her again.

“Sylvie, it’s like one. You won’t sleep tonight if you sleep much longer, you ok?”

“Yeah, fine. You just home?” Sylvie rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up.

“About an hour, stopped to get lunch. I picked up one of those strawberry chicken salad things you like, wanna come out and eat?”

Sylvie nodded, and came out to eat while stretching her limbs out. Gabby handed over the carryout container and she tucked in, the waffles from the morning basically gone already.

“What did you do then, just come home and sleep?” Gabby asked once Sylvie had stopped wolfing down her lunch and was eating more manageable bites.

“No, I went for breakfast with Antonio actually. He didn’t start till nine, so we ate and then I came home and crashed. I wouldn’t have woken up for dinner if you hadn’t called me, thanks for that.” She speared a piece of goats cheese with her fork, smiling as she pulled it out of the tangle of leaves.

“Breakfast already? Nice. Do you have plans again?”

“Yeah, we’re going for dinner tomorrow, his work dependant. He said he might pull a late raid, but if it’s clear then we’re heading out. He still hasn't told me where though!” Gabby laughed at her words.

“I’ve never seen him even pretend to be romantic, this is a nice change. He’s being sweet on you, good job.”

They talked about nothing and everything for the next few hours, until Sylvie’s phone buzzed with a text from Kelly checking her pizza preferences.

“Crap, I’ve gotta go. I agreed to get dinner with Kelly, he’s checking what I want for pizza toppings so he’s probably about to order, I better go.” She grabbed her jacket and waved goodbye to Gabby, hurrying to grab an uber to Kelly and Matt’s.

She arrived at the door just as the pizza guy was leaving, so Kelly welcomed her in with a smile, his hands full with the pizza boxes. Matt waved at her, opening three bottles of beer and bringing them over to the couch. The beers and pizzas were passed around, and the Bears game ended up on TV for them. Sylvie just laughed at Matt and Kelly yelling at the screen, the Bears finally looking like winning a game against the Falcons.

By the time the game was over the table was littered with beers, and Matt begged off to go to bed. He waved at Kelly, but wrapped his arms around Sylvie in a hug.

“Missed having you around, Brett. You were a good roomie, even without having your own room. If you ever need a new one, you know where we are.” He let her go and went to his own room, leaving Kelly and Sylvie on the couch.

She’d stopped after beer three, and Kelly brought her a glass of water with his next bottle. They sat there watching SportsCenter until Sylvie sat up a little.

“We’re buds, right Kelly? Like, we’re buds and we don’t have a romantic thing even considering happening, right?” Severide turned to look at her, confusion written all over his face.

“Duh. You’re officially like the annoying little sister I’ve never had. What’s going on?” He asked, taking a deep swallow from his beer.

“I’ve started seeing someone, and I thought you should probably know that I am. It’s only new, but we’re hopeful, y’know?” She smiled thinking about the few dates that had gone so well.

“As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. Who is it, do I know them?” He was genuinely interested, but Sylvie was scared of his response when he found out.

“It’s Gabby’s brother, Antonio. We’ve been on a few dates, and after work yesterday he appeared and brought me for breakfast. I didn’t blow you off, he just appeared after we swapped plans-“

“Syl, Syl, I didn’t even think that, calm down. Matt and Gabby told me he went through a divorce last year, I’m just glad you’re happy. Maybe don’t tell Matt yet cause he has a Dawson family thing, but I’m glad for you. Are you public or anything yet?”

“Not yet. The divorce, the age difference, the we know each other’s coworkers both in and out of work and his unit had to save me from being kidnapped like two weeks ago thing kinda spoiled it.” Sylvie drained her glass and laughed at her own stupid joke.

“Yeah, that’d do it for sure,” Kelly responded, following what she did and draining his bottle.

“Yeah. I’m beat, I’m gonna head home and crash. Thanks Kelly, I think you’re my best friend in this city.” She hugged him goodbye and left to head home.


	6. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third date happens, Sylvie learns a secret she can't tell Kelly, and 51 have a team building activity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, you're still getting your Thursday update, but I've given myself a huge buffer window, so I said I'd be nice and publish this today. I've started posting some fun lines from future chapters on my [tumblr account](https://justanoffalygirl.tumblr.com), so come follow me there!
> 
> E rating for this chapter for smut, folks.

Antonio had confirmed that he’d be free the next evening, and gave Sylvie the name of a seafood restaurant to meet him at at 8. She googled, discovered just how fancy it was, and freaked out that she didn’t have anything in her wardrobe that would be even vaguely appropriate. In a show of true friendship, Gabby came with her to some vintage stores to find something to wear.

It was the third store they went to when she found the dress. It was a 50’s style tea length dress, with a slightly poofed out skirt. The fabric was pale blue, and it set off Sylvie’s eyes and hair when she tried it on in the changing room. Gabby had left after that, saying she needed to do some errands. Sylvie was nearly glad, she didn’t want her date’s sister helping her buy underwear. She found the perfect set in Victoria’s Secret and paid for them, feeling fancy with her outfit choice. The last thing was shoes, but she had the perfect pair of low heels to wear.

She got home and ate, and by four decided it was time to get ready to go. She primped and preened, making sure her makeup was perfect before putting on her underwear and dress. She felt like Cinderella, and Gabby’s wolf whistle when she walked out made her even more certain of her decision.

“Damn girl, you look great! I shouldn’t expect you back tonight, right?” She asked, half joking.

“I wish, but we have shift in the morning and I’m not fitting a change of clothes in this bag,” Sylvie responded, picking up her purse. She double checked she had everything in it before zipping it up and grabbing her coat. The weather had taken a turn, and she put her black wool coat on over her outfit, obscuring it but making her feel a lot better about leaving the apartment.

“You look amazing. I’ll see you in the morning, I think I’ll have an early night.” Gabby waved her off, and Sylvie went outside for her cab.

The journey to the restaurant didn’t take long, and Antonio was standing outside in a suit and tie. When he saw Sylvie he kissed her cheek chastely before bringing her into the restaurant, hands clasped together.

The food was amazing, fresher than she’d ever had seafood before. She had clam chowder and fish and chips, but swiped some of Antonio’s crab cake and mussels. They split a chocolate mousse that Sylvie needed to bite down on her tongue from moaning about, as they chatted about how his case was going. When the bill came Sylvie went to grab the sleek leather billfold, but Antonio got to it first.

“I want to treat you, let me do that. You can get breakfast the next time we’re both off the same day,” he said, not even looking at the bill but sliding his credit card in. Sylvie smiled at his words and tipped her wine glass to him, taking a sip of the chardonnay they’d ordered. When the bill came back they stood to leave, and he held up her coat so she could shrug it on without any issues.

They walked a few blocks down the street to a brewery, and Antonio again held the door open for her. This time Sylvie managed to hand over her card for their drinks, and they sat and talked and flirted about everything and nothing. By the time it was eleven, they were both flagging and decided to leave. Outside, Antonio looked down at her and kissed her once.

“We can head to our own places now, or you can come back to mine. I know you’re on shift in the morning and have to leave early, but it’s up to you-“ Sylvie cut him off with a kiss, making it clear she wanted back to his apartment. They hailed a cab and managed to keep their hands off each other in the back seat, despite both wanting anything but to be apart. This time the making out started in the elevator, and they stumbled to his apartment door.

If the previous time was fast, this time was slow and luxurious. Sylvie ended up naked, her new lingerie enjoyed but discarded on the floor. Antonio was spending his time lavishing her chest with kisses and nips. He only had his underwear on, the two of them grinding and moaning. Sylvie felt his fingers enter her and threw her head back as he pressed on that perfect spot. He took that as an excuse to attack the hollow in her neck, sucking until she knew she was going to have a love bite there the following morning, but didn’t care.

It seemed like no time at all when Antonio lifted her up and off him. He removed his underwear and grabbed a condom, rolling it on. Sylvie was lifted back up onto his lap, and she took him in. It was slow and steady, as romantic as it could be on the couch. She felt herself nearly reaching her edge, taking over the rhythm and riding him faster. They reached their peak together, groaning into each other’s mouths to muffle their shouts.

They stayed joined for a few moments before Sylvie lifted herself up, feeling empty without him there. Antonio cleaned up, and brought her to his bedroom where they fell asleep curled up together.

Her alarm went off at five, and she groaned from too little sleep. Antonio stirred beside her, throwing an arm over her. “Don’t go…you can stay,” he murmured, kissing the spot under her ear that made her melt.

“Shift in three hours. I need to go home and change and shower and make myself presentable.” She turned and kissed him long and slow. “I’ll see you tomorrow night? Depending on your case.” She kissed him one last time before getting up and dressing. Her clothes were strewn around the apartment, and she felt less dressed up doing a walk of shame than she had the night before. It didn’t take long for her uber to arrive to bring her home.

The apartment was quiet when she got in, Gabby’s alarm never went off till six. Sylvie decided to mainline her first mug of coffee for the day and switched the coffee pot on, stirring the grinds and getting it set up. She left her heels by the door, but kept her coat wrapped around her in the cool morning air.

The pot finally brewed, and she poured a mug for herself, doctoring it with the vanilla creamer she used on very special occasions. She lifted the mug to her chin, savouring the warmth, turning around to face the living room. And then she nearly screamed in shock.

Matt was walking out of Gabby’s room, keeping quiet but she recognised him immediately. He lifted his head, saw Sylvie, and immediately his hand went to the back of his head, scratching it awkwardly. She grabbed a mug for him and handed it over.

“I’m gonna guess you want to know what’s going on?” He asked, looking at her awkward smile.

“Let’s go with no, because you don’t want to know why I’m sneaking into my apartment when you’re sneaking out of it, deal?”

“Deal. Thanks for the coffee, Sylvie. I’m gonna just down it and leave, see you on shift?” She nodded in agreement, draining her own coffee and leaving her mug in the sink.

It didn’t take long for her to shower and change, and thankfully her work tee would cover most of the love bites, and what the tee didn’t cover her parka would. Shortly after getting ready she could hear Gabby in the living room. She walked out, half intent on asking her about Matt, half intent to do nothing. As soon as she entered the living room, her questions were answered.

“I really, really, really do not want to talk about this right now. Can we just agree to pretend that you saw nothing this morning, and I heard nothing about the, and I quote, ‘impressive hickey on Brett’s neck’?” Gabby said, handing over a fresh mug of coffee.

“That is fine by me. But I demand a wine night this week to find out what’s going on with you. I’ll keep my contributions to a PG-13 level for you, but I want details.” Sylvie downed her coffee, spotting the time. “C’mon, let’s go,” she said, picking up her duffle and heading for the door.

They drove in, staying quiet for the trip. Sylvie wasn’t hungover, but she was groggy on too little sleep and knew that just because she hadn’t slept it’d be a busy day. It didn’t take long for her to be proven correct.

_Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61. Structure fire, 1100 South Hermitage_

Sylvie hopped into the passenger seat, content to let Mills drive for the morning. When they arrived there the building was ablaze, and a man was fighting against the onlookers to get back inside. She tried to do a primary survey, but he was too insistent to get it done.

She and Peter watched as the teams entered, before hearing Boden yell at them all to get out. She counted as everyone left the fire, a habit she’d started to develop after the abduction. One, two, three, four out from Squad. One, two, three, four, five out from Truck. Who was still in there?

Her thoughts were realised when she heard Herrmann over the radio “Chief, I’m stuck, got to bail out. I’m by the upper northwest window.” Sylvie watched the window and saw as they raised the ladder to get Herrmann and the bundle he was carrying. Kelly went up first, grabbing the bundle and bringing it down. She ran over, and discovered the bundle was a boy, maybe two years old at most. She grabbed him from Kelly and brought him to the gurney to do a survey.

“I’m hearing stridor, let me check his throat,” Sylvie called out, opening the boy’s mouth to see how much smoke he’d inhaled. “Oh, the inhalation burns are really bad.” She pushed through the worry for the boy and got to work checking everything else.

“I’ll bag him,” Mills ordered, pointing Sylvie to one of the trays. “Brett, use the IO drill to get a line.”

She grabbed the red drill and held the boy steady, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She got the line in first time into his tibia, and hooked up the fluids.

“I’ll drive, stay there with him. I’ll alert Med we’re on the way,” she said to Peter before closing the back of the ambo doors.

“How is he?” Herrmann came straight over to check on the patient, but Sylvie didn’t have time to be gracious or consoling.

“Inhalation burns, we’re taking him to Chicago Med. I have to go now.” She ran to the cab, jumped in, and immediately flicked the sirens on while they ran to the hospital.

The normal routine happened when they got there, but the child looked so alone and she felt awful leaving him. The doctor gave her a thumbs up for getting the IO line in and told them that he had burns to his trachea and lungs. She was hopeful, but immediately ran back to look after him. She and Mills just stared at each other before leaving the ER for the house.

When they returned, everyone from Truck was cleaning it down after the fire. As soon as they got out of the cab, their colleagues were straight up to them.

“How is he?” Herrmann asked, true fear on his face.

“I don’t know. It was a tough intubation but we got him there alive.” Peter’s face was ashen as he spoke, pulling off his knit cap.

“He’s on a ventilator. Damage to his lungs and trachea, but the doctors are optimistic.” Her words put a smile on Herrmann’s face, making them all feel a little better. “I’m gonna hit the laundry before we get called out again, let me know if anyone needs to be checked after that fire,” she called over her shoulder as she moved into the main area of the house.

She’d just gotten a wash started when Mills came down to the laundry room. “Chief wants us, Casey and Herrmann in his office about that call right now.” She followed him, arriving into the small office where Burgess and Roman were already standing. Sylvie nodded at everyone in the room, but zoned out until Burgess asked her a direct question.

“Brett, was the kid acting unusual or erratic?” Sylvie shot back to attention.

“He was lethargic from his O2 sats being down, and he was kicking like hell before I got a grip, but I was drilling an IV into his leg and we didn’t have pain meds suitable for kids that young that we’re allowed to give. It was pretty normal, I thought.”

“PD got this video saying the father was at fault. It’s pretty awful, so you don’t have to watch it if you don’t want to.” Roman handed his smartphone over to Matt, who pressed play on the video. Sylvie watched as the terrified father from earlier that day was blowing smoke into his baby boy’s face, getting the kid high on God knows what. She clamped her hand over her mouth in shock, and watched as Herrmann nearly hit the wall in anger. He was a father, and she knew his youngest was about the same age as that little boy.

Sylvie and Peter were excused from the meeting, and she went and lay on her bunk. Normally that was the signal to the world that they needed a call, but she managed about twenty minutes disturbed sleep before Gabby appeared and shook her.

“We’re going on a search to see what happened with that fire. Is what Herrmann said true? I saw you in Boden’s office with him and the Lieutenant.”

Sylvie arched an eyebrow at Gabby calling Matt the Lieutenant. Her friend had the decency to blush, but didn’t elaborate.

“Yeah, it’s true. I don’t know what he was using or why he did it, but he did it and now there’s a baby affected by all of this. Go see what you can find, Gabby.” She rubbed her hand on her friend’s shoulder, watching as Gabby left.

Sylvie spent the next few blessedly quiet hours keeping calm and keeping things going. She got her laundry dry, and then prepped lunch. She had a meat sauce going, and six boxes of pasta ready for when Truck arrived back. It’d keep them going, and with Gabby out on the call she figured she’d be nice and do something with her nervous energy.

_Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 81. Vehicle incident, Docks_

And there was her favourite thing to do. Switching off the burners and putting a lid on the sauce, she got to the ambo first. They pulled out ahead of Squad, leading the way to the warehouses surrounding the docks. She didn’t know what she expected to see, but it wasn’t the scene before them. There were kids streaming out the other entrances to get away, and in the middle of the warehouse was a car smashed into a pole, crushing a young woman between the pole and the car. Sylvie got out of the ambo immediately, her and Peter grabbing the gurney, backboards and their jump bags. Matt had gotten out of the truck and immediately taken the lead on it.

“Mills and Brett, check on the girl. See if it’s safe to bring this mess away from her.”

“On it!” Sylvie called out to him before turning to her partner. “You got it?”

“Yeah. She might have crush syndrome, ok?” Mills said, taking a look at the pool of blood at the girl’s feet.

“I’m gonna run an IV, prep an amp of sodium bicarb.” She immediately went over and introduced herself to the scared girl.

“Hey, I’m Sylvie, and that’s my partner, Peter. We’re gonna look after you. I want to give you something for the pain so you’ll feel a little pinch in your hand, ok?” The girl nodded, and Sylvie got the vein first try, hooking up a bag of saline to keep some fluids going in her body.

It didn’t take long for them to establish that they could move the car away. Sylvie was pulled back away from the movements as Peter and Squad held the girl’s bodyweight themselves before transporting her to the backboard. Within minutes their sirens were going as they made their way to Chicago Med to transport her. They spotted Maggie, and got the news that the baby they brought in had died.

When they arrived in they broke the news, and Herrmann punched the truck. Nobody could be angry at him, but they surrounded him with quiet affection and a listening ear if he needed it. Kid calls cut them all hard, but this boy was the same age as his youngest.

The rest of the evening was quiet, but Sylvie couldn’t sleep. Antonio had sent her a couple of texts, and she’d replied, but it was too awkward to try keep a full conversation going with him while she was working. She made her way out to the common room, grabbing a tub of vanilla ice cream from the freezer. Gabby was sitting on the couch, so she took two spoons from the drawer before walking over.

“Did you draw night watch?” She asked, handing over a spoon.

“No, I just couldn’t sleep. There’s coffee on if you want some.” Gabby replied, taking the spoon and digging straight into the ice cream.

“Nah, I want to actually sleep when I get home. Just thinking about everything, you know?”

“Oh I do. I guess you want the details on last night?” Gabby took another big spoon of ice cream, but she still saw Sylvie’s nod.

“If you want to share. We live together, we don’t have to tell each other everything, you know?”

“I know, but still. Ugh. He called me into his quarters the shift after we found out how Shay had died, and asked me how I was doing. And one thing led to another, and another, and another, and well sex happened.” Sylvie laughed at how matter of factly her friend was talking about it.

“It just happened?” She asked, looking Gabby up and down.

“Yeah. We were always good in bed together, and he’s hot, and I’m hot. But we said that’d be the last time.”

“That was four weeks ago, I saw this morning.” Sylvie took another spoonful, then put her spoon in her pocket, it was enough ice cream for one nighttime feast.

“Yeah. But we’ve been doing a friends with benefits kind of thing. When you’ve been at Zumba, Severide’s been out at Molly’s, that kind of thing. It’s just sex, nothing else. It scratches an itch, you know?” At Gabby’s words, Sylvie sat up straight and turned around to face her roommate.

“It’s not just sex with the two of you, Gabby. You love him, and he’s still brokenhearted about you. You need to decide if you see a future together, or if it’s a hit it and quit it thing. Neither of you will be able to move on if you don’t do it.” Sylvie put the lid back on the ice cream, about to stand to put it away.

“You’re right. It’s just…he’s been a constant in my life as at least a friend for the last nearly six years. How am I supposed to walk away from that while still seeing him every day?” She sounded like she was about to cry, and if Sylvie had been anywhere else with her she would have wrapped her in a hug.

“You have to decide which you want more. Him or the truck. We can’t always get everything we want, you know?”

The rest of the shift was peaceful, and the two women drove home in near silence. Antonio let her know he couldn’t do breakfast, but she honestly didn’t mind too much. Instead of going to bed, Sylvie baked a cheesecake to keep herself sane. The mixing and weighing and measuring helped put her mind at ease after that hellish shift, and by the time she finished she had a New York style cheesecake sitting on the counter with a jar of strawberry jam beside it.

A firm knock on the door startled her, and she opened it to see Matt standing there. “Can I come in?” He asked, and she held the door open for him.

“Gabby’s in her room. I’m going to bundle this up and bring it over to Kelly and give you some privacy. If you’re still here in a few hours, put a sock on the door, ok?” She got a wave from the older man, and proceeded to use the cake tin her Mom had given her when she got engaged to load up the cheesecake and head to Kelly’s.

He was groggy opening the door, but smiled seeing Sylvie on the other side. “Hey, I think Casey’s in bed still, what are you doing here?” He asked, smiling as he took in the clear cake tin. “Is that cheesecake?”

“And homemade strawberry jam, yes,” she replied, walking in. “Want a slice?”

“Oh yes. Lemme get properly dressed first.” Kelly left to put pants on, and she carefully cut two slices of the cake, spooning the fresh jam over the top. By the time he arrived back out she’d added a fork to each plate, and pushed his over to him.

“Damn, Brett. Remind me why we annulled again?” He asked, taking a second bite quickly.

“Because we both know that if the two of us stayed married, one of us would be arrested by Voight for murder?” He guffawed at her answer, but nodded, agreeing. “You’re stuck with me for the next few hours. I’ve got a Zumba class at two, but I didn’t want to stay home until I was ready to head. Mind giving me a ride to the studio in return for me leaving the rest of the cheesecake here?” She asked, and Kelly eagerly agreed.

“What is that Zumba thing anyway?” He asked, slicing off a thin sliver from his slice.

“It’s like a workout dance routine. You dance to upbeat music, and do repetitive bodyweight exercises to it. I love doing it, and the instructor’s great. It’s a good cardio workout.” She finished her slice, and stood to put her plate in the dishwasher.

“Is it just women who do it?” He asked, and Sylvie turned to stare at him.

“I mean men can do it, yeah, but I don’t think you’d be interested in it.”

“Why not? It sounds fun, and better than going for a three miler like I planned this afternoon. Can I pay when I get there?” He looked excited, and it made Sylvie feel awful.

“Kelly, you can’t come to this class. Try find a different one if you’re interested, but you really can’t come to this one.” Kelly stood and grabbed Sylvie around the waist.

“Why not? Keeping a dirty little secret from me, Brett? As your ex husband I’m disgusted that you wouldn’t tell me everything!” He went in for the kill, tickling just under her ribcage till Sylvie gave up, crying with laughter.

“Ok, ok! I’ll tell you why!” She took a moment to take some deep breaths and compose herself. “You know the instructor, and I can definitely state that if they saw you, they’d be embarrassed. They nearly kicked me out of the class because they didn’t want anyone to know who it was.” Kelly’s face darkened for a moment as he thought who could run it.

“It’s got to be Otis doing it, right?” Sylvie shook her head no. “I don’t think any of my squad guys would do it except Capp, and he’d be more likely to spread it around the house that he did it. Casey definitely doesn’t, he doesn’t have time. From what you’ve said about it Mouch doesn’t have the co-ordination, Herrmann’s too busy with Molly’s, Gabby would have admitted it…” His voice trailed off as he realised.

“Joe Cruz is a fitness instructor on the side. It’s Cruz, isn’t it?” His laughter rang around the apartment as he saw from the look on Sylvie’s face that he was right.

“You can’t tell anyone! He was so terrified for anyone to know about it, but he’s one of the best instructors in Chicago. If he taught anywhere except Pilsen he’d have waiting lists for months.” She felt so guilty for even inadvertently outing Cruz, but Kelly just smiled.

“Team building time! It’s a good workout, and if he sees all of us there he’ll know we’re not ashamed of it. We all know how expensive this city is to live in, and he’s paying for his brother down in Florida.” Kelly grabbed his phone and activated the second shift phone tree, and within moments his phone wouldn’t stop buzzing from the agreements to go to the class at two.

Sylvie arrived as normal, pretending to ignore the crowd of firefighters who’d arrived to the class. They were all there in their workout gear, and as the music started they began the routine. Joe started his class like normal, upbeat and getting everyone pumped, until he spotted the shift there and his face fell for a moment. Sylvie just smiled and nodded at him, and they went with the class.

By the time it ended she was sweating and out of breath, her coworkers not much better off. They were all grinning at Cruz when he came over, everyone wrapping him in a hug before they all decided to head their separate ways. Sylvie and Gabby drove home, ignoring the Matt Casey shaped topic of conversation in the car.


	7. Secret's Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sylvie treats a friend, gets mistaken for her former title and tells Antonio everything that happened. They take their relationship to the next level

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to a T rating here folks, canon typical injuries and violence. If you just look for updates on Thursday and Sunday, I did publish an additional update on Tuesday, because I loved that chapter too much not to publish. Please enjoy, and come join me on my [tumblr](https://justanoffalygirl.tumblr.com) where I'm currently freaking out over last night's OneChicago shows.

_Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61. Hazmat incident at Cermack and Loomis._

Sylvie jumped into action, Mills following behind her. The drive to the scene wasn’t far, and as they pulled up they could see the plumes of smoke rising into the air. Their role was support and to transport anyone who got too badly off, so they watched Matt and Kelly getting onto the roof and getting the injured men off before getting called into their own action.

“Mills, Brett! Check those people coming out of the doors,” Boden yelled over, and they ran across, helping people out and checking heart rates. There wasn’t much could be done till hazmat arrived, so truck and squad were helping move people away from the building. Sylvie got the last man out and into 61, and Mills drove them to Med.

The ER was even busier than normal, and a red haired doctor grabbed their patient with barely any words. Sylvie was packing the ambulance up to head back to 51 when she saw Kelly coming through the crowded area.

“Can I get a ride back with you? Had to take apart a machine around a guy’s leg but I’ve no ride back to 51 unless I get a cab, and I’m still in my turnouts.” He motioned to his filthy clothes and Sylvie smiled.

“You can hop in the back, don’t worry. Help me get the gurney up? Mills is inside getting gauze for us.” Kelly helped her lift up the gurney legs, pushing it into the back of the ambo. They stood there waiting for Mills as a man came by looking drunk. She ignored him, focusing on seeing her partner’s head going through the ER. Without warning, the drunk guy turned around and Sylvie realised he was wearing a bomb on his chest.

“Brett, down, now!” She was pulled down and halfway under the ambo, Kelly holding her still as the shock raced over her. She lay there motionless for a moment before rolling out from under him, and staring at the scene that lay before her. There was blood pumping from Kelly’s chest, and she grabbed her gauze and started packing, screaming for help. Kelly was barely breathing, so she grabbed her kit and tubed him, tears streaming down her face as she attached the ambu bag and breathed for her best friend. There wasn’t much structural damage to the building itself, so when her shouts were heard people ran out to investigate.

“Kelly Severide, 35 years old. Blast trauma from an IED strapped to a man’s chest, shrapnel injuries and a lot of blood lost outside. Packed his wounds with gauze before you could get out there.”

“We’ve got it from here, thanks Brett,” the doctor she’d seen earlier said, pushing her away from Kelly so they could treat him. She stared through the window for a moment, until she looked down and realised her hands were coated in her best friend’s blood. Sylvie nearly retched as she ran to the bathroom to get it off her hands.

Once they were clean, she sat in the waiting room, staring at the door into the ER. The entire house was there after they’d heard what had happened, waiting for news from the docs inside. Matt sat to her left as he gripped her hand in comfort. The rest of the house wandered the waiting room, too keyed up on adrenaline to do anything except pace. It didn’t take long for the red haired doctor to emerge, his face grave.

“You’re with Severide?” He asked, staring at the firefighters who were present.

“Yeah. We’re down as his next of kin, Matthew Casey and Sylvie Brett. What’s going on?” Matt spoke for the two of them, helping Sylvie to her feet.

“The two of you can head up to the surgical waiting room, but the rest of you have to wait here. He’s got a lot of shrapnel in his chest, and we’ve got surgeons starting to remove it. It’s a slow process, and there’s some near his heart that isn’t making things easy. It’s touch and go right now.” Matt clenched his fist and Sylvie clapped her hand over her mouth to muffle her gasp. She stared straight at the doctor, begging him to give any further news.

“Come with me, I’ll bring you upstairs.” He turned on his heel and they followed. Sylvie heard Matt give instructions, but she was so focused on getting up there and waiting that she didn’t hear anything else until they reached the elevator to take them up. The trio stood in there, ashen faced as it brought them upstairs.

“I didn’t get your name, doc, sorry,” Matt held out his hand which the doctor shook.

“Will Halstead. Nice to meet you Lieutenant.”

“Any relation to Jay?”

The doctor smiled at Matt’s words. “Yeah, he’s my annoying big brother. Is Chicago that small?”

“He really helped me out before,” Sylvie said quietly. “Managed to find Mills and I and get us out alive. If you’re anything like him Kelly will be fine.”

They reached the fifth floor, and Will brought them into the waiting area. It was small, but the chairs weren’t too uncomfortable and there was a coffee machine, so it was a better place than most.

Sylvie and Matt retook their previous positions, holding hands and sitting quietly. Sylvie let up a prayer for the first time since she’d moved to Chicago. _Please God just let Kelly be ok. Don’t take my friend from me. Let him be ok._

She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard her name being called. Looking up, Antonio was there and she ran into his arms, feeling secure while he held her.

“‘Tonio it was a bomb and I’d be dead but Kelly pushed me and covered me, I didn’t know what was happening and then I heard it.” Her words were quickly drowned out by her tears, and Antonio just held her closer as she cried. He manoeuvred into one of the chairs, holding her on his lap while she let it all out. After fifteen minutes she’d calmed as he ran his fingers through her dusty blonde hair.

“How did you know I was up here?” She asked, looking up at her lover’s brown eyes. The full focus of his stare was on her, and Sylvie felt emotionally raw just looking at him.

“Gabby told me the two of you were allowed up here. I get Casey being here.” His eyes shot over to the Lieutenant, clear loathing still in them, “but I didn’t know why you were allowed up. I thought it was next of kin only.” He kissed Sylvie’s forehead, holding his lips to her while she spoke.

“It’s a really long story that I don’t want to go into right now, but I’ll tell you when we’re alone, ok?” It was a sign of his trust in her that he just pressed his lips more firmly to her forehead, making sure she knew he was there.

“Antonio, we’ve gotta go. Voight wants us out looking for the guy they think set off the initial explosion. I held him off, but we need to get back to the 21st now.” Jay walked into the room, waving at the two colleagues who were there. With his words Sylvie held Antonio close for a moment, before reaching up and giving him a searing kiss.

“I’ll text when I’m leaving here after we hear about Kelly. Let me know if I can go to your place, ok?” Antonio responded with a kiss, giving her a final hug goodbye. He nodded at Matt, who nodded back quietly. The two detectives left with promises to keep in touch, and Sylvie sat back beside Matt again.

“You and Antonio? You look good together,” he said, smiling. It wasn’t a full “Matt Casey is happy for you” smile, but it was genuine.

“Yeah. It’s still pretty new, but it’s good. I don’t think Gabby is too impressed by it, whenever she wants to have girl talk she shuts me up nearly immediately.” Matt let out a laugh at that, looking as Sylvie’s face did an impression of Gabby’s ‘please shut up and never bring this up again’ face.

They stayed quiet for another two hours, but finally a surgeon entered the room.

“Lieutenant Casey? Mrs. Severide?” She asked, approaching them.

“Ms. Brett, but yes,” Sylvie replied, standing with Matt to get the news.

“Apologies, Ms. Brett. Lieutenant Severide had twenty two pieces of shrapnel in his torso, most of them entering through his chest. We needed to lengthen the incisions to get in there, but we were able to remove all twenty two pieces. He’ll be out of work for at least three weeks, but we’re hopeful he’ll make a full recovery. I’ve brought him up to the recovery room, and the two of you can go see him.” She held out her arm to direct them, but Sylvie hung back.

“I’ll meet you there, I want to call Boden and let him know what’s going on.” Matt nodded at her words, and Sylvie pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial for Boden’s cell.

_“Boden.”_

“Chief, it’s Brett. Kelly’s out of surgery, but he’s not fully out of the woods yet. They’re hopeful but we have to wait till he wakes up.” She filled her Chief in on everything that had happened since they’d come upstairs and what they knew about Kelly’s condition.

_“That’s good news, Brett. I’ll tell the house. We pulled in floaters to cover so when you’re ready just come back here to get your bag and head home, we’ve had enough excitement for one day.”_

She hung up with his words in her mouth, and went to the recovery area. Matt was sitting on one side of Kelly’s bed, a nurse standing in the corner away from him. Sylvie walked in slowly, taking in just how damaged he was.

The intubation tube she’d put in earlier had been replaced by a non rebreather mask, but he was covered in wires. His IV stand had a unit of blood being pumped into him to replace the volume he’d lost, along with saline and other medications. He was hooked up to an EKG, and the steady beat of his heart rhythm relaxed her a little. She took the empty seat and held his fingers, too nervous to risk bumping an IV.

“If you die, I’ll bring you back and kill you myself, Kelly. You shouldn’t have jumped in front of that for me,” she murmured, a tear leaving her eye.

“Don’t cry, Brett, it kills the badass image you’ve got going,” Kelly half whispered, as she and Matt looked at him in shock. He was awake and talking.

“I’m gonna wait till you’re out of bed to get properly angry with you, but I’m so glad you’re awake.” She grinned at him, and got a pained smile back. The nurse in the corner moved in spotting he was awake.

“I’m sorry folks, but he needs his rest and I need to tell the docs he’s woken up. You need to go home, but I’ll stay with him for a while. You can come back in the morning.” She was professional and kind, and Sylvie smiled back at her before squeezing Kelly’s fingers.

“We’ll have this discussion again, Severide,” she said before walking out, Matt right behind her.

“I’ve got the keys to Boden’s buggy, c’mon and I’ll give you a ride to the house and then a ride home. You could probably do with bed right now, I know I can.” Matt said as they were walking through the ER on their way out.

“Sounds good. I need to check what’s happening with Antonio though, if he’s free I’m gonna go to his I think.” Sylvie had tapped out a text to him as they walked, and within a minute had her response.

_We caught the guy, I’ll be at 51 in 25 minutes. My place?_

“I’ll take the ride to 51 anyway. He’s gonna pick me up. Which means Gabby will be home alone, not that I’m saying anything about what’s going on there.” She responded to Antonio before getting into the passenger seat, stretching out her back against the plush seat cover. Matt got in beside her and pulled out onto the street before speaking.

“I still don’t know what’s happening there, but we’re going with it. Antonio hates my guts for many reasons, but he’s a standup cop and a good guy. You know that relationship isn’t going to stay secret for long now Jay knows, right?”

“I’m pretty sure Jay already knew. We were staying quiet at the start, his divorce was final but not totally finished and I didn’t want to make any waves. I don’t want to meet his kids anytime soon or anything, it’s casual and easy and nice.” Matt let out a peal of laughter at her words.

“Sylvie, I’m going to tell you something I know from working with the Dawson siblings for so long. There’s no such thing as a casual relationship when it comes to them, ever. Even what me and Gabby are doing, I know it’s not casual for her. I just need to pretend it is when she wants it to be.” Matt spoke from experience, and gave Sylvie something to think about for a moment before responding.

“After tonight, if he’s still ok with everything that went on with Kelly and I? Then I know for sure it’s not casual. But he’s not Harrison, and he’s a good guy, I don’t mind if people start knowing.”

They stayed quiet for the rest of the journey, turning up the radio on Boden’s favourite country station. The man would deny it till the day he died, but the preset number one in his buggy was the country station. They pulled up, and Sylvie immediately grabbed her bag and went to the showers. She generally avoided showering at work, but needs must and she just wanted the dust and dirt off her body.

By the time she’d finished and wrapped her hair in a bun to keep it up under her hat in the freezing weather, Antonio had arrived and was standing on the app floor waiting for her. He took her duffle from her and held her hand on the way to the car, running his thumb over the back of her hand like it was a worry stone.

The drive to his apartment building was quiet, and Sylvie could feel the tension building. By the time they arrived, however, it eased and they sat on his couch, curled up with each other just enjoying their touch. She took a deep breath and sat up to look at him.

“You ok?” He asked, looking at her damp hair coming out of the bun.

“Yeah, but now I need to tell you what happened there. When I first came to 51 Kelly kept thinking I was Shay. Both of us are blonde, within an inch of each other’s height according to Gabby, and we wore the same uniform. So he stayed away from me and I stayed away from him because I figured it was easier. A couple of months in, while he was struggling, he organised a Vegas trip for him and Capp. Capp pulled out last minute and he asked if I wanted to go, and some winter sun and cocktails sounded perfect. Except we got really drunk and got married there.” She paused for a breath, looking at Antonio’s face for any signs of dismay or distrust. He had his detective’s face on, so she continued.

“We realised the next day that it was a huge mistake, and decided to annul it. The annulment came through about a month ago, but he hadn’t refiled the papers in work to take me off his next of kin list and have Matt down as the sole one. So when they told me to go to the waiting room, I just did it. We might not be married, but he’s a really good friend to me.” Sylvie finished speaking and waited for Antonio to process what she’d said.

“So you were married, but you’re not, but you’re not divorced either? It just doesn’t exist?” He asked, speaking slowly.

“Pretty much, yeah.” She leaned back against the couch, closing her eyes for a moment. Before she could open them, Antonio had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

“I can’t believe anyone managed to get him to settle down for even a drunken marriage, but of course it’d be you, Sylvie. Thanks for letting me in on the secret, I’m going to assume it’s not well known?”

“It’s really not,” she replied, leaning in against her lover’s chest.

“Well then it’s nothing I’m gonna reveal,” he replied, holding her tight. His phone buzzed, and he opened it up. “Most of Intelligence, as well as Roman and Burgess are down in Molly’s. From the sounds of it most of your house are there as well. Want to go down?” He asked, and Sylvie leaned her head back to look up at him without changing position.

“Are we going down there as friends or more than friends?” She asked, the words escaping quickly.

“We’re both adults, Sylvie. And calling you my girlfriend sounds really high school, but it feels accurate. Want me to write you a note with a tick box?” She giggled at his words, smiling while turning around.

“Well then, boyfriend, let’s go and reveal it to people.”

Molly’s was crowded as they expected, with Herrmann passing a boot around for Kelly’s recovery costs. They all knew the on the job health coverage only handled the bare essentials, so they’d make sure he could afford to live while he was paying off his medical bills. Sylvie dropped a twenty into it, with Antonio following suit. He walked up to the bar while Sylvie joined a table with Erin, Burgess and Gabby.

“How’s Severide doing, Brett?” Erin asked as she sat down.

“He was awake and alert, and he knew who Matt and I were. All good signs, but we need to wait to see how he heals up, he’s in pretty rough shape,” she responded to the detective she didn’t know too well. They’d seen each other at scenes, but she was much more familiar with Kim Burgess than anyone else.

They began chatting about how their days had been before the bombing, when Antonio arrived over with Sylvie’s vodka tonic. Burgess and Erin waved at him, before staring as he reached down to kiss Sylvie in front of them.

“Detective! Didn’t think you’d put the moves on in front of everyone,” Burgess said, her eyebrows raised.

“I’m gonna go talk to Jay and Ruzek, ok? Let me know how you want this to happen around your coworkers,” Antonio whispered in her ear, squeezing her arm before going to his colleagues.

“I knew he was seeing someone, I didn’t know it was you, Brett. How long has this been going on?” Erin asked, taking a sip from her beer.

“A couple of months. We wanted to see how things worked out before announcing anything to everyone, you know what this crowd of folks are like,” Sylvie took a swallow from her drink, smiling at the women at her table. “But it’s good and he’s sweet and I’m happy, so we’re seeing how things go from here. He was at the hospital for me today.”

“That’s sweet,” Kim said, watching as Ruzek went to the bar. He arrived at their table with a drink for her, waving at the women then leaving again.

“That was sweet,” Sylvie retorted, pointing at the jack and coke he’d placed in front of her. “I’m gonna go and talk to some of the guys, Peter said he wanted to tell me something.” She stood with her drink and walked over to where Mills was surrounded by firefighters.

“There’s my partner! Brett, I just got word, I’ve been cleared to go back to Squad if there’s a place!” His joy was infectious, and Sylvie made herself smile despite knowing she’d be losing her partner.

“That’s such good news Mills, congrats,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled her in for a hug. They chatted for a few moments until Antonio came up behind her, slipping his hand into the back pocket of her jeans. She curled into the motion, and it only took a minute before Mouch turned his head and saw them standing together.

“Detective, do you have something you want to tell us about our favourite paramedic in the city?” He asked, attempting to sound gruff until Trudy came over and stood beside him.

“Apart from the fact I’m dating my favourite paramedic in the city? No, not really,” he said, kissing Sylvie’s forehead before breaking apart for a moment. “And I don’t mean you, Gabby, you’re a Candidate now so don’t yell at me.” The group surrounding them erupted in cheers, and Otis pulled out his date planner.

“Ok, we had a good spread of dates for her and Severide, but two people said they weren’t dating. They were Chief, and Cruz! You split the pot, I’ll get the money to you next shift,” he announced as Sylvie’s face turned bright red.

“You were betting on Kelly and I dating? Really? I think he sees me like a sister,” she said to Otis, who’d gone behind the bar to start serving drinks with Herrmann.

“We saw what we saw, you know. You got really close all of a sudden, he was saving you lunch. What were we supposed to expect after you were abducted?” He asked, passing her a fresh drink. “Plus, we only bet on the people we care about, Brett. If we didn’t care, we wouldn’t do it.” She smiled at his words and took the drink.

“Thanks Otis. I still don’t like it, but this just means you have to tell me when the next betting pool is happening.” She finished her original vodka tonic and passed him back the glass.

“Deal.”

The rest of the night passed in a blur, everyone congratulating her and Antonio. Even Matt came over and shook his hand, giving Sylvie an awkward hug to let her know there were no hard feelings. The most surprising reaction came from Voight, who came up to both of them with beers.

“The minute I saw how he looked at you, Brett, I knew he was a goner. Glad you know what the job is like, it’s not easy doing this without a partner.” She smiled at the gruff man, nodding in thanks. She’d heard all the rumours about him before, but he was Antonio’s sergeant and she was glad he liked her. Neither of their jobs were easy or safe, and she’d quickly learned what a family your team became to you.

She was fed up of Kelly’s complaints about being stuck in hospital, and was glad he could finally come home a week after he’d been blown up. Matt had offered to pick him up, but was working every day he wasn’t on shift at a construction project he’d kept close to his chest. Sylvie was glad to get him back to the loft, and turned up at eleven thirty for his noon discharge.

“I can walk, don’t push me in this, Sylvie,” he complained, holding his chest stiffly as Sylvie pushed him through the hospital in the provided wheelchair.

“You’ve been here enough times to know the rules, when you’re being discharged you leave in a wheelchair. As soon as we get to the front door you can stand up and walk on your own two feet, but until there you stay in the chair. You scared me enough, do this for me,” she pushed him carefully, making sure to avoid any corners.He caught enough of the fear in her voice and stopped complaining until they made it out the front door. Sylvie put the brake on the chair and gave him her hand to stand with, and they made it to the car.

The drive to the loft from Med wasn’t long, but Sylvie could see his energy flag as they arrived. She deposited Kelly on the couch before going to the kitchen and starting to cook lunch for them. She made extra for Matt when he got home, and placed a bowl of steaming pasta alla vodka in front of Kelly, who grinned seeing it.

“This looks so much better than hospital food, thanks Syl,” he said, digging into his plate as Sylvie followed suit. She hadn’t really had breakfast, and the food was really good. Matt had saved some March Madness games on the TiVo, so they watched them while eating. Kelly ended up falling asleep shortly after he ate, the excitement of the day wearing out his still healing body. Sylvie looked around the room, and decided to do the dishes from her cooking while he napped. She got everything washed and dried, and even did the coffee mugs Matt had left lying around the counters. She was pretty sure Gabby’s lipstick was on one of them, but she just washed and dried and put away. By the time she finished, Kelly was still fast asleep. She wrote a note out and put it on the coffee table before covering him up with a blanket and leaving the loft quietly.


End file.
